Table 2.

Unadjusted hazard ratios for all-length sickness absence periods (≥ 1 day) and for long-term sickness absence (≥ 31 days)

Perceived stress	All-length sickness absence periods (periods ≥ 1 day)			Long-term sickness absence (periods ≥ 31 days)
	Hazard ratio	95% confidence interval	p value	Hazard ratio	95% confidence interval	p value
Women
Often/always-stress	1.52	[1.43–1.61]	< 0.0001	2.51	[2.10-3.00]	< 0.0001
Sometimes-stress	1.21	[1.15–1.27]	< 0.0001	1.49	[1.25–1.76]	< 0.0001
Seldom/never-stress (reference level)	1	–	–	1	–	–
Men
Often/always-stress	1.32	[1.19–1.46]	< 0.0001	1.35	[0.97–1.90]	0.08
Sometimes-stress	1.17	[1.08–1.26]	< 0.0001	*	*	*
Seldom/never-stress (reference level)	1	–	–	1	–	–
Total
Interaction sex and often/always-stress			0.019			0.001
Interaction sex and sometimes-stress			0.42			*

*We did not perform  the analyses of ‘Sometimes’-stress and ‘long-term sickness absence’ for men because the proportional hazard assumption was not fulfilled