No association found between sickness absence and duration of pregnancy benefit

Figures & data

Table I.  The Pregnancy benefit: Changes in four occupational groups among pregnant women employed 1986–97.

Type of occupation	1986		1992		1997
	%	95% CI	%	95% CI	%	95% CI
Administrative	2	1–3	6	4–9	6	4–8
Industrial	18	14–23	28	22–33	38	31–44
Service	19	14–25	37	30–43	44	37–51
Health and Care	29	25–33	37	33–41	47	42–52
Total	17	15–19	25	23–27	28	26–31

Figure 1. Relations of mean days of sickness absence, Parental and Pregnancy benefit 1978–97.

Table II.  Mean number of days provided by benefits in connection with pregnancy (sickness absence, Parental benefit, and Pregnancy benefit) among pregnant women employed 1978–97.

Type of occupation	1978		1986		1992		1997
and type of benefit	Days	95% CI	Days	95% CI	Days	95% CI	Days	95% CI
Administrative
Pregnancy benefit	(*)^1	(*)^1	1.0	0.4–1.7	3.2	2.2–4.3	3.2	2.2–4.2
Sickness absence	13.8	10.8–16.8	21.5	18.4–24.5	14.5	11.6–17.4	10.0	7.9–12.2
Parental benefit	10.7	9.6–11.9	6.7	5.9–7.5	5.6	4.7–6.4	5.6	4.8–6.4
Industrial
Pregnancy benefit	(*)^1	(*)^1	9.2	7.1–11.3	13.8	11.2–16.3	18.8	15.6–22.1
Sickness absence	38.6	31.8–45.5	61.9	55.2–68.7	30.5	24.9–36.2	20.5	15.7–25.2
Parental benefit	16.9	15.1–18.8	6.1	5.2–7.0	8.0	6.7–9.3	9.9	8.2–11.5
Service
Pregnancy benefit	(*)^1	(*)^1	9.6	6.9–12.3	18.3	14.9–21.6	22.0	18.5–25.6
Sickness absence	23.2	17.0–29.4	49.7	42.0–57.5	26.1	19.2–32.9	23.9	16.9–31.0
Parental benefit	15.6	13.4–17.7	6.1	5.0–7.2	5.6	4.2–7.1	6.5	5.0–8.0
Health and Care
Pregnancy benefit	(*)^1	(*)^1	14.6	12.4–16.7	18.6	16.4–20.7	23.5	21.1–25.9
Sickness absence	18.6	14.8–22.3	38.0	33.4–42.6	22.6	18.4–26.7	19.0	15.2–22.7
Parental benefit	15.7	14.4–17.0	6.0	5.3–6.7	5.9	5.1–6.8	7.1	6.0–8.1
Total
Pregnancy benefit	(*)^1	(*)^1	8.4	7.4–9.4	12.4	11.3–13.5	14.1	12.9–15.3
Sickness absence	21.6	19.3–23.9	40.1	37.4–42.8	21.9	19.7–24.2	16.1	14.2–18.0
Parental benefit	14.2	13.4–14.9	6.2	5.8–6.7	6.2	5.7–6.7	6.8	6.2–7.3

¹The Pregnancy benefit was introduced in 1980.

Figure 2. Mean number of days of sickness absence for all insured persons in Sweden 1975–99 aged 16–64 years. The results for employed pregnant women in this study are plotted for the years 1978, 1986, 1992, and 1997. The mean number of days is multiplied by 9/12 in order to facilitate comparisons for one whole year. For 1988, a result from the urban area (the county of Stockholm) is included [8].

National Board of Social insurance. Mor-88. En undersökning av gravida kvinnors sjukskrivning [A study of pregnant women's sickness absence in the community of Stockholm in 1988]. Stockholm; 1990.

 Google Scholar