The following factors were found to have consistent , but limited , support as regards their influence on the risk for sick leave due to back and neck disorders : ( a ) heavy physical workload , bent or twisted working position , and low work satisfaction increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( b ) specific back diagnoses and previous sick leave due to back disorders increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( c ) female gender , smoking , exposure to vibration , and deficient social support were not found to significantly increase the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( d ) self-reported pain and functional impairments were associated with a high risk for long-term sick leave ; ( e ) longer employment periods reduced the risk for short-term sick leave ; ( f ) perceived dem and s at work did not influence short-term sick leave ; ( g ) female gender and higher age increases the risk for disability pension
Can we screen for problematic back pain? A screening questionnaire for predicting outcome in acute and subacute back pain.
OBJECTIVES Because musculoskeletal pain is the second most frequent reason for seeking health care , the aims of this study were to determine the value of psychosocial variables in evaluating risk for developing chronic back pain problems and to develop a screening methodology to identify patients likely to have a poor prognosis . STUDY DESIGN A prospect i ve study was conducted on consecutive patients with acute or subacute back pain , in which patients completed a screening question naire and were then followed up for 6 months to determine outcome . The primary outcome variable was accumulated sick leave . METHODS One hundred forty-two consecutive patients were asked to complete a question naire design ed for this study . This question naire contained 24 items concerning psychosocial aspects of the problem . Six months later , patients were contacted to complete outcome questions about accumulated sick leave .  RESULTS A total of 97 % of the patients completed both question naires . Although patients , on average , improved greatly , 18 % had 1 - 30 days and 20 % had fewer than 30 days of sick leave during the follow-up period . Five variables were found to be the strongest predictors of sick leave outcome ( fear-avoidance work beliefs , perceived improvement , problems with work function , stress , and previous sick leave ) , correctly classifying 73 % of the patients as opposed to a chance rate of 33 % . A total score was evaluated as a means of judging risk and found to be strongly related to outcome . CONCLUSION Potent psychosocial risk factors associated with future sick absenteeism were identified . Because the total score was related to outcome , the instrument may have use in screening patients with acute or subacute spinal pain in clinical situations
The following factors were found to have consistent , but limited , support as regards their influence on the risk for sick leave due to back and neck disorders : ( a ) heavy physical workload , bent or twisted working position , and low work satisfaction increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( b ) specific back diagnoses and previous sick leave due to back disorders increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( c ) female gender , smoking , exposure to vibration , and deficient social support were not found to significantly increase the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( d ) self-reported pain and functional impairments were associated with a high risk for long-term sick leave ; ( e ) longer employment periods reduced the risk for short-term sick leave ; ( f ) perceived dem and s at work did not influence short-term sick leave ; ( g ) female gender and higher age increases the risk for disability pension