The Danish Occupational Medicine Cohort - Long-term Prognosis for Patients With Work-related Disorders

Danish departments of occupational medicine examine around 10,000 patients each year referred due to suspected work-related disorders. In Denmark and internationally there is a lack of follow-up studies investigating the long-term prognosis of employees with work-related disorders. The purpose of this cohort is to facilitate long-term prognostic studies for conditions such as mental or musculoskeletal disorders.

The Danish Occupational Medicine cohort has been created through The Danish National Patient Register and comprises all patients seen in Danish Departments of Occupational Medicine from 2000-2018 (N=145.521). Numerous register data are included in the database from five years prior to time of inclusion until 2018. Examples of register data are; information on work, sickness absence and disability as well as number and type of contacts to health services, use of medication, income, education, type of occupation, social status, death and cause of death. Job Exposure Matrices (JEMs) on physical and psychosocial work exposure, life styles and other matrices are also available. The cohort will be updated with new patients and register data regularly.