Outpatient healthcare use before and during a long-term sickness absence spell: a register-based follow-up study comparing healthcare use by the length of sickness absence and transition to disability pension in Finland.

The risk for at least 1 year's disability may be identified by frequent outpatient healthcare use years before LTSA. However, future disability retirees could not be identified through their pre-LTSA healthcare use. Instead, their high use of healthcare after the start of the LTSA was consistent with their increasing health problems leading to retirement.