Long-time sickness absence among parents of pre-school children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and down syndrome: a longitudinal study

Background: Taking care of a child with special needs can be draining and difficult and require a lot of parental time and resources. The present study investigated the long-term sickness absence of parents who have children with spina bifida, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome compared to that of parents without a child with special needs. Methods: The sample consisted of primiparae women who gave birth between 2001 and 2005 and the fathers of the children (N = 202,593). Data were obtained from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway (MBRN), which is linked to the Central Population Register, education and income registries and Historical Event Database (FD-Trygd) of Statistics Norway (SSB). The linkage data provide longitudinal data, together with annual updates on children and their parents. Statistical analyses were performed using difference-in-difference (DD) study design. Results: Caring for a child with special needs affected maternal sickness absence, particularly in the first year after the birth. The level of sickness absence of mothers caring for a child with spina bifida and cerebral palsy was greater than that of mothers caring for a child with Down syndrome. In contrast, the sickness absence of fathers caring for a child with special needs was, on average, comparable to that of fathers without a special-needs child in the post-birth period. Conclusions: Caring for a child with special needs affected the long-term sickness absence of mothers but not fathers. The findings indicate that the burden of care in the case of children with special needs falls especially on the mother.