Introduction
Materials and methods
Control population
Development of the work ability questionnaire
Work ability constructs and items
Constructs (abbreviation) | Work ability questions, [item abbreviation], (response scale), source of item/scale |
---|---|
1. Thyroid-specific limitations (THY) | During the past 4 weeks, has your thyroid disease caused you to have difficulty managing your job (for example, had difficulty managing it or calling in sick)? [T_DIFF]a
|
(Not at all, a little, some, quite a bit, very much) 1 item from the ThyPRO questionnaire | |
During the past 4 weeks, has your thyroid disease caused you to | |
Take off from work earlier than usual? [T_OFF] | |
Plan your work differently [T_PLAN] | |
Involved your employer or colleagues in order to manage your work? [T_INVOLVE] | |
(To a very little extent, to a little extent, somewhat, to a high extent, to a very high extent) | |
Newly developed items | |
2.a. Work role limitations attributed to physical health (RP) | During the past 4 weeks, have you had any of the following problems with your work or other regular daily activities as a result of your physical health? |
Cut down on the amount of time you spent on work or other activities? [SF36_RP1] | |
Accomplished less than you would like [SF36_RP2] | |
Were limited in the kind of work or other activities? [SF36_RP3] | |
Had difficulty performing the work or other activities (for example, it took extra effort)? [SF36_RP4] | |
Four items from the SF-36-v2 role physical scale | |
2.b. Work role limitations attributed to mental health (RE) | During the past 4 weeks, have you had any of the following problems with your work or other regular daily activities as a result of any emotional problems (such as feeling depressed or anxious)? |
Cut down on the amount of time you spent on work or other activities? [SF36_RE1] | |
Accomplished less than you would like? [SF36_RE2] | |
Did your work less carefully than usual? [SF36_RE3] | |
(All of the time, most of the time, some of the time, a little of the time, none of the time) | |
Three items from the SF-36-v2 role emotional scale | |
3. Work Limitations (WL) | In the past 2 weeks, did you have difficulties with |
Working the required amount of hours? [WL_HOURS] | |
Doing your work without taking extra breaks? [WL_BREAK] | |
Stick to a routine or a plan? [WL_ROUTINE] | |
Control your temper when working with others? [WL_TEMPER] | |
Keep your mind on your work tasks? [WL_ATT] | |
(All of the time, most of the time, some of the time, a little of the time, none of the time) | |
Five newly developed items | |
4. Work performance (PERF) | Comparing yourself to others, who have the same type of work, how do you estimate your own ability to |
Handle a big work load? [P_LOAD] | |
Do your job well? [P_WELL] | |
Work without making mistakes? [P_ERROR] | |
Make quick decisions? [P_DECIDE] | |
Concentrate on your work? [P_CONC] | |
(A lot better, a little better, about the same, a little worse, a lot worse) | |
Complete work performance scale from the Danish National Working Environment Survey | |
5. Global work ability (Global) | Assume that your work ability at its best has a value of 10 points. How many points would you give your current work ability? [G_WAI]b
|
(11 point scale from 0 to 10; 0 = currently not able to work at all, 10 = work ability at its best) | |
How do you rate your current work ability with respect to | |
The physical demands of your work? [G_PHYS]b
| |
The mental demands of your work? [G_PSY]b
| |
(Excellent, very good, good, fair, poor) | |
Three items from the Work Ability Index |
Clinical measurements
Covariates
Statistical analyses
Results
Thyroid patients | General population | ||
---|---|---|---|
All responders (n = 632) (%) | Employed (n = 507) (%) | Employed (n = 15,050) (%) | |
Diagnoses | |||
Non-toxic goiter | 30 | 37 | |
Toxic nodular goiter | 2 | 9 | |
Graves’ disease | 20 | 20 | |
Graves’ Orbitopathy | 7 | 6 | |
Autoimmune thyroid hypothyroidism | 23 | 23 | |
Other thyroid diseases | 10 | 5 | |
Missing | <1 | <1 | |
Years with diagnosis | |||
6 or more years | 39 | 38 | |
2–5 years | 28 | 30 | |
0–1 years | 31 | 30 | |
Missing | 2 | 2 | |
Age* | |||
18–29 | 5 | 3 | 12 |
30–39 | 19 | 19 | 20 |
40–49 | 37 | 39 | 33 |
50–59 | 39 | 39 | 35 |
Females* | |||
Females | 88 | 87 | 45 |
Cognitive job demands* | |||
High | 33 | 40 | 35 |
Medium | 10 | 11 | 13 |
Low | 33 | 38 | 45 |
Missing | 25 | 11 | 7 |
Work sector* | |||
Production | 7 | 8 | 23 |
Finance | 25 | 28 | 26 |
Knowledge and health | 47 | 57 | 36 |
Missing | 21 | 7 | 15 |
Results from CFA and DIF

Results from general population comparison
Effecta
| Global work ability (WA) | WA with respect to mental demands | WA with respect to physical demands | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | |
Non-toxic goiter (n = 186) | 1.11 | (0.84–1.48) |
0.71
| (0.53–0.95) |
0.73
| (0.54–0.98) |
Toxic nodular goiter (n = 45) | 0.93 | (0.52–1.66) | 0.90 | (0.50–1.63) | 0.84 | (0.47–1.53) |
Graves’ disease (n = 99) |
3.14
| (2.16–4.57) |
1.79
| (1.22–2.63) | 1.44 | (0.98–2.12) |
Graves’ orbitopathy (n = 32) | 1.79 | (0.92–3.51) | 0.67 | (0.34–1.35) | 0.66 | (0.32–1.35) |
Autoimmune hypothyroidism (n = 115) |
1.68
| (1.18–2.4) | 0.83 | (0.58–1.19) | 0.71 | (0.49–1.03) |
Other thyroid disease (n = 26) |
2.12
| (1.06–4.26) | 0.66 | (0.32–1.36) | 1.24 | (0.60–2.56) |
Chi-square (RV) 6 df
|
50.8
| (1) |
18.8
| (0.37) |
13.2
| (0.26) |
Results from work ability scales comparisons
Parameter | Work role physical | Work role mental | Thyroid-specific limitations | Work limitations | Work performance | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Est. | 95 % CI | Est. | 95 % CI | Est. | 95 % CI | Est. | 95 % CI | Es.t | 95 % CI | |
Reference group scorea
| 52.8 | (50.8/54.8) | 52.7 | (50.6/54.9) | 99.4 | (95.7/103.1) | 87.7 | (82.2/93.3) | 56.8 | (52.8/60.8) |
Differences from the reference group | ||||||||||
Toxic nodular goiter (n = 45) | −1.8 | (−4.8/1.2) | −1.8 | (−5.1/1.4) | −5.1 | (−10.8/0.5) | −2.7 | (−11.1/5.7) | −1.2 | (−7.2/4.9) |
Graves’ disease (n = 99) |
−4.0
| (−6.3/− 1.7) |
−2.8
| (−5.2/− 0.4) |
−11.4
| (−15.6/− 7.2) |
−9.4
| (−15.7/− 3) | −4.2 | (−8.7/0.4) |
Graves’ orbitopathy (n = 32) | −1.2 | (−4.7/2.2) | −3.5 | (−7.2/0.1) | −5.2 | (−11.6/1.2) | −2.7 | (−12.5/7) | 3.6 | (−3.4/10.6) |
Autoimmune hypo. (n = 115) | −2.1 | (−4.2/0.1) |
−3.4
| (−5.7/− 1.2) |
−4.2
| (−8.2/− 0.2) | −4.5 | (−10.5/1.5) | −1.0 | (−5.3/3.3) |
Other thyroid d. (n = 26) | −1.9 | (−5.4/1.7) | −1.2 | (−4.9/2.6) | −1.4 | (−7.9/5.2) | −5.8 | (−15.6/4) | −3.5 | (−10.5/3.6) |
Disease <1 yearb
|
−2.6
| (−4.4/− 0.8) |
−2.2
| (−4.1/− 0.3) |
−5.9
| (−9.3/− 2.6) | −4.2 | (−9.2/0.8) |
−3.8
| (−7.4/− 0.2) |
F value (RV) 5 df
|
2.5
| (0.42) |
2.3
| (0.39) |
5.9
| (1) | 1.7 | (0.29) | 1.2 | (0.20) |
F value (RV) 1 df
|
8.3
| (0.69) |
5.4
| (0.45) |
12.1
| (1) | 2.7 | (0.22) |
4.2
| (0.35) |