Days lost by sickness certification.

Number of calendar days lost by sickness certification, according to cause, sex, and age, are reported. The basis of the study was 5,042 episodes of sickness certification among residents of Buskerud county in Norway in 1985. The number of days lost was estimated to be 19.8 per employed person per year (females 20.4, and males 19.2). There was an increase with age, but the number of days lost was almost the same for persons between 20 and 50 years of age. Conditions classifiable to the diagnostic groups musculoskeletal/connective tissue diseases, respiratory system diseases, injuries, and mental disorders were responsible for 70.4% of the total number of days lost. Among "single diagnoses" the most dominating were "back pain without radiating symptoms", "other nonarticular rheumatism", "influenza", "other bursitis, tendinitis & synovitis", and "depressive neurosis", and these accounted for 33.7% of the total number of days lost. Cause-, sex-, and age-specific numbers of days lost reflect the socioeconomic importance of different health problems. Such information may be useful in setting priorities in preventive medicine.