Fear Avoidance Beliefs and Risk of Long-Term Sickness Absence: Prospective Cohort Study among Workers with Musculoskeletal Pain

Table 1

Demographics, health, and work-related characteristics of the study population.

	All			Sedentary workers			Physically active workers
	N	Mean (SD)	%	N	Mean (SD)	%	N	Mean (SD)	%
Age, years	8319	43.7 (11.4)		3753	44.3 (10.8)		4349	43.2 (11.8)
BMI (kg.m-2)	8173	25.4 (4.4)		3698	25.3 (4.5)		4265	25.6 (4.4)
Gender
Women	4779		57.5	2188		58.3	2469		56.8
Men	3540		42.6	1565		41.7	1880		43.2
Smoking
No, never	3853		46.9	1904		51.2	1868		43.6
Ex-smoker	2417		29.4	1138		30.6	1228		28.6
Yes	1950		23.7	679		18.3	1192		27.8
Physical activity, leisure
Low	1121		13.6	458		12.3	623		14.5
Moderate	5631		68.5	2680		72.0	2826		65.9
High	1467		17.9	585		15.7	839		19.6
Physical activity at work
Sedentary work	3753		46.3	3753		100.0	0		0.0
Physically active work	4349		53.7	0		0.0	4349		100.0
Psychosocial work factors (0-100)
Emotional demands	8161	45.3 (25)		3707	43 (23.3)		4287	47.2 (26.2)
Influence at work	8100	66.6 (24)		3689	71 (22.4)		4246	62.9 (24.6)
Support from colleagues	7651	72.5 (21.5)		3425	72.2 (21)		4072	72.8 (21.8)
Support from leader	7822	68.6 (26)		3524	69.3 (25.8)		4141	68.2 (26)
Pain intensity (0-9)
Neck/shoulder	8301	3 (2.3)		3746	2.9 (2.2)		4339	3 (2.3)
Low back	8310	2.9 (2.5)		3753	2.5 (2.4)		4341	3.2 (2.5)
Arm/hand	8302	1.8 (2.3)		3747	1.6 (2.2)		4340	1.9 (2.4)
Back disease
No	6699		81.0	3099		82.9	3434		79.6
Yes	1568		19.0	641		17.1	879		20.4
Previous long-term sickness absence
No	7537		90.6	3500		93.3	3844		88.4
Yes	782		9.4	253		6.7	505		11.6
Long-term sickness absence during 2-year follow-up
No	7475		89.9	3450		91.9	3837		88.2
Yes	844		10.2	303		8.1	512		11.8