The associations of working hour characteristics with short sickness absence among part- and full-time retail workers

This study aimed to determine the associations of working hour characteristics with short (1-3 days) sickness absence (SA) among retail workers. As part of "RetailHours-project", 4046 employees of 338 Finnish retail stores were included. Registry-based data on working hour characteristics and short SA were utilized. A case-crossover design was used and the odds ratios (OR) were controlled for the clustering effect and working hour characteristics. There were strong dose-response relationships between percent of short (40 hours were associated with SA among part-time workers [odds ratio (OR) 2.22, CI 1.65-2.98], women (OR 1.62, CI 1.27-2.07) and among workers