Predictors of sickness absence in patients with a new episode of low back pain in primary care

Melloh, Markus; Elfering, Achim; Rolli Salathé, Cornelia; Käser, Anja; Barz, Thomas; Röder, Christoph; Theis, Jean-Claude (2012). Predictors of sickness absence in patients with a new episode of low back pain in primary care. Industrial health, 50(4), pp. 288-98. Kawasaki (Jap.): National Institute of Industrial Health 10.2486/indhealth.MS1335

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This study examines predictors of sickness absence in patients presenting to a health practitioner with acute/ subacute low back pain (LBP). Aims of this study were to identify baseline-variables that detect patients with a new LBP episode at risk of sickness absence and to identify prognostic models for sickness absence at different time points after initial presentation. Prospective cohort study investigating 310 patients presenting to a health practitioner with a new episode of LBP at baseline, three-, six-, twelve-week and six-month follow-up, addressing work-related, psychological and biomedical factors. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify baseline-predictors of sickness absence at different time points. Prognostic models comprised 'job control', 'depression' and 'functional limitation' as predictive baseline-factors of sickness absence at three and six-week follow-up with 'job control' being the best single predictor (OR 0.47; 95%CI 0.26-0.87). The six-week model explained 47% of variance of sickness absence at six-week follow-up (p<0.001). The prediction of sickness absence beyond six-weeks is limited, and health practitioners should re-assess patients at six weeks, especially if they have previously been identified as at risk of sickness absence. This would allow timely intervention with measures designed to reduce the likelihood of prolonged sickness absence.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Work and Organisational Psychology 04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute for Evaluative Research into Orthopaedic Surgery
UniBE Contributor:	Elfering, Achim, Rolli Salathé, Cornelia, Röder, Christoph
Subjects:	100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
ISSN:	0019-8366
Publisher:	National Institute of Industrial Health
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:36
Last Modified:	02 Mar 2023 23:21
Publisher DOI:	10.2486/indhealth.MS1335
PubMed ID:	22673362
Web of Science ID:	000307133500006
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/14530 (FactScience: 221571)