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

Table 2

Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals for long-term sickness absence during the 2-year follow-up in relation to fear avoidance beliefs (FAB) at baseline.

		N	%	Model 1	Model 2
				HR (95% CI)	HR (95% CI)
All	Very low FAB	1822	22.6	0.76 (0.62 - 0.93)	1.02 (0.80 - 1.29)
	Low FAB	1940	24.1	0.86 (0.71 - 1.05)	0.92 (0.73 - 1.16)
	Moderate FAB	2497	31.0	1	1
	High FAB	1042	12.9	1.31 (1.06 - 1.62)	1.13 (0.88 - 1.46)
	Very high FAB	761	9.4	1.80 (1.46 - 2.23)	1.48 (1.15 - 1.90)
Sedentary workers	Very low FAB	1049	28.8	0.70 (0.51 - 0.96)	0.86 (0.59 - 1.25)
	Low FAB	987	27.1	0.85 (0.62 - 1.16)	0.86 (0.60 - 1.23)
	Moderate FAB	1079	29.7	1	1
	High FAB	338	9.3	1.41 (0.98 - 2.04)	1.40 (0.91 - 2.15)
	Very high FAB	184	5.1	1.68 (1.08 - 2.61)	1.72 (1.04 - 2.83)
Physically active workers	Very low FAB	753	17.8	0.90 (0.68 - 1.18)	1.23 (0.89 - 1.70)
	Low FAB	925	21.9	0.91 (0.70 - 1.18)	1.00 (0.73 - 1.36)
	Moderate FAB	1344	31.9	1	1
	High FAB	660	15.6	1.21 (0.93 - 1.58)	1.08 (0.79 - 1.48)
	Very high FAB	538	12.8	1.69 (1.31 - 2.18)	1.48 (1.10 - 2.01)

Model 1: Adjusted for age and gender.
Model 2: model 1 + job group, psychosocial work environment (influence at work, emotional demands, support from colleagues, and support from leader), lifestyle (smoking, leisure physical activity, and BMI), musculoskeletal pain intensity (low back, neck/shoulder, and arm/hand), previous long-term sickness absence, mental health, and chronic disease (depression, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and back disease).