Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers: a register-based observational study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers (HCWs) in primary and specialist care and examine its causes. METHODS: Using individual-level register data, we studied monthly proportions of sick leave (all-cause and not related to SARS-CoV-2 infection) from 2017 to February 2022 for all HCWs in primary (N=60 973) and specialist care (N=34 978) in Norway. First, we estimated the impact of the pandemic on sick leave, by comparing the sick leave rates during the pandemic to sick leave rates in 2017-2019. We then examined the impact of COVID-19-related workload on sick leave, by comparing HCWs working in healthcare facilities with different levels of COVID-19 patient loads. RESULTS: HCWs had elevated monthly rates of all-cause sick leave during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2.8 (95% CI 2.67 to 2.9) and 2.2 (95% CI 2.07 to 2.35) percentage points in primary and specialist care. The corresponding increases for sick leave not related to SARS-CoV-2 infection were 1.2 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.05) and 0.7 (95% CI 0.52 to 0.78) percentage points. All-cause sick leave was higher in areas with high versus low COVID-19 workloads. However, after removing sick leave episodes due to SARS-CoV-2 infections, there was no difference. CONCLUSIONS: There was a substantial increase in sick leave among HCWs during the pandemic. Our results suggest that the increase was due to HCWs becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 and/or sector-wide effects, such as strict infection control measures. More differentiated countermeasures should, therefore, be evaluated to limit capacity constraints in healthcare provision.

Impact of Omicron on sick leave across industries: A population-wide study.

AIMS: To estimate the industry-specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Omicron wave) on sick leave. METHODS: Using individual-level data from the Norwegian Emergency Preparedness Register, the study covers all workers in different industries (N = 2,733,751 people) on a monthly level in the time periods January-March 2017-2020 (except March 2020) and 2022 (38,199,536 person-months). We estimated the industry-specific increase in monthly average sick leave during the Omicron wave in 2022 compared with the corresponding months in 2017-2020. RESULTS: We found an average increase in monthly sick leave rates of 2.92 percentage points (95% CI 2.9-2.94) during the three first months of 2022. The increases were strongest within food and accommodation (4.42 percentage points increase, 95% CI 4.33-4.51) and administrative support services (3.94 percentage points increase, 95% CI 3.85-4.03). CONCLUSIONS: The Omicron wave resulted in a substantial increase in sick leave, which was unevenly distributed across industries. The results of this study highlight the importance of industry-specific contingency planning when facing the rapid spread of infectious diseases.

Longitudinal evidence on the development of socioeconomic inequalities in mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway.

The economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are unequally distributed. A growing literature finds evidence that those with low socioeconomic status have carried a greater burden in terms of both unemployment and infection risk. Against this background, it is natural to also expect increasing socioeconomic inequalities in mental health. We report from a population-based longitudinal study, assessing the mental health of more than 100,000 Norwegian adults during a period of more than 20 years, and into the COVID-19 pandemic. We find substantial, and equally high, increases in depressive symptoms across socioeconomic status. In addition, we show that the increase was particularly strong among women and those with lower levels of depressive symptoms prior to COVID-19.