Table 1.

Overview of studies

Author(s)	Country	Study population	Data source(s)	Years of data	Diagnostic classification system used	Sickness absence benefit definition	Outcomes
Barbosa-Branco et al14	BR	All employees in registered private sector jobs in 2008 who had a sickness absence	Brazilian National Social Security Administrative Databases: National Benefits System and National Social Information Database	2008	International Classification of Diseases,10th edition (ICD-10)	Sickness absence = ≥15 medically certified consecutive days absent	Duration of sickness benefit claim (calendar vs work days not specified)
Board and Brown13	UK	Study sample consisted of all employees of one police force who had ≥1 episode of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) between Nov 1, 2000 and Oct 31, 2002	Employer electronic absenteeism record administrative data	2000–2002	International Classification of Diseases,8th edition (ICD-8)	Long-term sickness absence = medically certified sickness absence episodes ≥28 consecutive calendar days	Return to work by type of sickness absence episode (subacute or chronic)
Dewa et al6	CA	Employees from one large resource sector company from 2003–2006 who had a sickness absence	Employer administrative sickness absence data	2003–2006	ICD-10	Sickness absence = medically certified sickness absence of ≥5 continuous work days	Mean work days per sickness absence episode
Dewa et al12	CA	Employees from one large resource sector company from 2003–2006 who had a sickness absence	Employer administrative sickness absence data	2003–2006	ICD-10	Sickness absence = medically certified sickness absence of ≥5 continuous work days	Sickness absence free days
Koopmans et al15	NL	Employees of firms who were clients of one occupational health services provider from April 2002—November 2005 who had a sickness absence	Administrative sickness absence data from one occupational health service provider (ArboNed)	2002–2005	Not described	Not described	Return to work Duration of absence calendar days
Koopmans et al9	NL	Dutch Post and Telecommunication employees from 2001–2007 who had a sickness absence due to a common mental disorder since Jan 1 2001 or date of employment	Administrative sickness absence data from one occupational health service provider (ArboNed)	2001–2007	ICD-10	Sick leaves of >3 weeks require a medical certificate from an occupational physician	Duration of sickness absence days (calendar vs work days not specified) Days to sickness absence recurrence
Koopmans et al8	NL	Dutch Post and Telecommunication employees from 2001–2007 who had a sickness absence due to a common mental disorder	Administrative sickness absence data from one occupational health service provider (ArboNed)	2001–2007	ICD-10	Sick leaves of >3 weeks require a medical certificate from an occupational physician	Duration of sickness episodes Median duration in months until recurrence of sickness absence Days to sickness absence recurrence Recurrence = the start of at least one new episode of sickness absence after complete return to work for ≥28 days
Reis et al11	BR	Workers who worked ≥20 h/week from one university hospital who were employed from 2000–2007 who had at least 1 sickness absence	Administrative data from employer human resources department	2000–2007	ICD-10	Not described	Median calendar days per sickness absence Recurrence density of sickness absence episodes/100 worker-months
Roelen et al16	NL	Employees of firms who were clients of an occupational health services provider from 2001–2007 who had a sickness absence	Administrative sickness absence data from one occupational health service provider (ArboNed)	2001–2007	ICD-10	Sickness absence: absence of ≥28 sick days requiring a medical certificate from an occupational physician	Median number of calendar days of sickness absence episodes/100 employees
Roelen et al10	NL	Dutch Post and Telecommunication employees from 2001–2007 who had a sickness absence	Administrative sickness absence data from one occupational health service provider (ArboNed)	2001–2007	ICD-10	Sick leaves of >3 weeks require a medical certificate from an occupational physician	Median duration of sickness absence in days (type of day not specified) Recurrence density of sickness absence/1000 worker-years Days to recurrence