The effect of hospital mergers on long-term sickness absence among hospital employees: a fixed effects multivariate regression analysis using panel data

Table 1 Descriptive statistics

	Female		Male
	% of N	Mean (SD)	% of N	Mean (SD)
N	85 002		22 296
Age		43 (12)		43 (12)
Education level
More than 4 years of higher education	9%		37%
Up to 4 years higher education	58%		32%
High school^a	14%		19%
Not finished high school	20%		12%
Education
Nurse	40%		13%
Physician	5%		28%
Assistant nurse	2%		1%
Administration and economy	2%		4%
Other	51%		55%
Income^{b, c}
Low (<200)	30%		21%
Mid-low (200–300)	32%		21%
Average (300–400)	24%		30%
Mid-high (400–500)	7%		16%
High (>500)	6%		12%
Absence during a year
No absence spells^d	72%		84%
One absence spell^d	22%		13%
Multiple absence spells^d	7%		3%
Absence from 2003 to 2008
No absence spells^d	42%		65%
One absence spell^d	20%		16%
Multiple absence spells^d	38%		18%
Days lost per absent employees per year^e		98 (82)		89 (81)

Note. The Table presents all employees in the sample, also those who had no absence spell.
^a13/14 years of school including compulsory education of 10 years.
^bThe number is taken from the first month each individual was measured.
^cGiven in 1,000 NOK ≈ 130 EUR or 170 USD.
^dAmount of absence spells longer than 16 days during a year.
^eThe average amount of days lost to sickness absence for an employee who is absent during a year.

ISSN: 1472-6963