Future risk for disability pension among people with sickness absence due to otoaudiological diagnoses: a population-based cohort study with a 12-year follow-up.

UNLABELLED: Hearing difficulties is a growing public health problem and more knowledge of consequences of those difficulties in working life is warranted.

AIMS: To study the future risk of being granted a disability pension (DP) among people with sickness absence with an otoaudiological diagnoses (OAD) compared to other sickness absentees.

METHODS

A population-based prospective cohort study of all 40,786 people in a Swedish county who in 1985 were aged 16-64 and had a new sick-leave spell >7 days. Those were followed for 12 years with regard to DP. Hazard ratios (HR) + 95% confidence intervals (CI) of being granted DP was calculated among those with sick leave due to OAD compared to people with sickness absence with other diagnoses.

RESULTS

In 1985, 515 people had a new sick-leave spell with an OAD. Twelve years later, 36% of those had been granted DP, compared to 24% of all other sickness absentees. Their HR for DP was 1.42 (95% CI 1.23-1.64) adjusting for gender and age. Compared to men, women with an OAD had a HR of DP of 1.24 (95% CI 0.90-1.71), when adjusted for age. The HR for DP regarding those aged>45 years and sickness absent with OAD was 2.63 (95% CI 1.95-3.55) compared to the sickness absentees with OAD below 45 years of age, adjusted for gender.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk for future DP was more than 40% higher among those initially on sickness absence due to OAD than among other sickness absentees.