Decisions on sick leave certifications for acute airways infections based on vignettes: A cross-sectional survey of GPs in Norway and Poland

Figures & data

Table I. Recommendations for sick leave by type of airway infection.¹

Disease	Duration of sick leave
Pneumonia	Usually up to two weeks
Sinusitis	Usually not beyond one week
Upper airway infection	Up to one week may be necessary
Exacerbation of COPD	Up to two weeks may be necessary

Note: ¹According to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (6).

Table II. Characteristics of respondents in Poland and Norway: means, percentages, and 95% confidence intervals.

Variable	Poland	Norway	p-value
Mean age, years	46 (45–47)	44 (42–45)	0.06
Women,%	66 (59–72)	45 (38–52)	<0.001
Specialist in general practice,%	78 (73–84)	52 (45–60)	<0.001
Time worked in general practice, years	12 (11–13)	12 (10–14)	0.65
Time worked as a physician, years	20 (18–21)	15 (13–16)	<0.001
Average number of patients seen per hour	7.5 (6.7–8.3)	3.5 (3.4–3.7)	<0.001

Table III. Proportion of general practitioners in Poland and Norway that would offer a sick leave note for respiratory tract diseases.

Disease	Poland (n = 216) %, 95% CI	Norway (n = 171) %, 95% CI	Adjusted relative risks^1 95% CI
Female, age 30 Pneumonia	99.5 (98.6–100)	97.1 (94.5–99.6)	1.02 (0.99–1.04)
Male, age 50 Sinusitis	94.9 (92.0–97.9)	82.5 (76.7–88.2)	1.16 (1.07–1.26)
Female, age 45 Common cold	86.6 (82.0–91.1)	60.2 (52.9–67.7)	1.50 (1.28–1.75)
Male, age 55 Exacerbation of COPD	93.5 (90.2–96.8)	89.5 (84.8–94.1)	1.05 (0.98–1.13)

Note: ¹Relative risk for offering a sick-leave note in Poland versus Norway, adjusted for sex, speciality, number of years worked as a physician, and average number of patients seen per hour, using multivariate log-Poisson regression with robust standard errors.

Figure 1. General practitioners' proposed duration of sick leave for a 30-year-old female with pneumonia in Poland and Norway. 95% CI bars are shown for the most frequent durations.

Table IV. General practitioners' proposed duration of sick leave for respiratory tract diseases in Poland and Norway.

Disease	Poland, days, 95% CI	Norway, days, 95% CI	Adjusted difference^1, days 95% CI
Female, age 30 Pneumonia	8.9 (8.4–9.4)	6.6 (6.2–7.0)	2.2 (1.4–3.0)
Male, age 50 Sinusitis	7.5 (7.1–7.9)	4.3 (4.0–4.6)	3.0 (2.4–3.5)
Female, age 45 Common cold	5.1 (4.9–5.4)	3.1 (2.9–3.4)	2.0 (1.5–2.5)
Male, age 55 Exacerbation of COPD	6.9 (6.5–7.3)	6.2 (5.8–6.5)	0.7 (0.1–1.3)

Note: ¹Difference in proposed duration of sick leave adjusted for sex, speciality, number of years worked as a physician, and average number of patients seen per hour, using ordinary least-squares regression with robust variances to account for non-normal distributions.

http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/riktlinjer/forsakringsmedicin sktbeslutsstod. (accessed March 14, 2010).

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