Occasional and persistent frequent attenders and sickness absences in occupational health primary care: a longitudinal study in Finland.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Frequent attenders (FAs) create a substantial portion of primary care workload but little is known about FAs' sickness absences. The aim of the study is to investigate how occasional and persistent frequent attendance is associated with sickness absences among the working population in occupational health (OH) primary care.

Setting and participants

This is a longitudinal study using medical record data (2014-2016) from an OH care provider in Finland. In total, 59 676 patients were included and categorised into occasional and persistent FAs or non-FAs. Sick-leave episodes and their lengths were collected along with associated diagnostic codes. Logistic regression was used to analyse associations between FA status and sick leaves of different lengths (1-3, 4-14 and

SUBMITTER: Reho TTM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6411255 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature