Reason for sickness absence can predict employee deaths

October 3, 2008

Employees who take long spells of sick leave more than once in three years are at a higher risk of death than their colleagues who take no such absence, particularly if their absence is due to circulatory or psychiatric problems or for surgery, concludes a study on bmj.com today.

Previous research shows that medically certified sickness absences may well capture the full range of illnesses employees experience and that they could be a good global measure of health differentials between employees. It has been suggested that the specific reasons for absence such as psychiatric problems or heart disease may improve the prediction of premature death.

Jenny Head from University College London and colleagues investigated whether the reason for sickness absence improved the prediction of death compared with overall sickness absence irrespective of diagnosis.

They obtained sickness absence records for 6,478 British civil servants between 1985 and 1988 and analysed associations with death until 2004.

They found that deaths increased as the medically certified absence rates (spells of more than 7 days) increased. The almost 30% of men and women who had one or more medically certified absence in three years had a 66% increased risk of premature death than those with no such absence.

The authors report that by including the diagnosis for sickness absence they significantly improved the prediction of the risk of death. For instance, employees taking sickness absences due to circulatory disease were four times more likely to die prematurely than their colleagues with no absence. Those who took absence due to psychiatric diseases were nearly twice as likely to die prematurely, and those with a surgical operation diagnosis were more than twice as likely.

Interestingly, one or more spells of absence with a psychiatric diagnosis was predictive of a two and a half fold increase in cancer related death.

However, employees taking spells of sickness absence with a musculoskeletal diagnosis were not at increased risk of death compared to their colleagues who took no absence.

The authors conclude that the monitoring of reasons for sickness absence could contribute to identifying groups at increased health risks and who need a targeted intervention.

In an accompanying editorial, Johannes Anema and Allard van der Beek from the VU University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, suggest that specific diagnostic information on sickness absence could provide general practitioners with "a useful biopsychosocial tool" to identify workers with an increased risk of serious illness or risk of death.

In addition, Anema and van der Beek say that this tool could also be used to identify employees with work related health problems such as stress and high job demands, for targeted intervention by occupational physicians.

Source: British Medical Journal

3.6 /5 (12 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

Bob_B
Oct 03, 2008

Rank: not rated yet
Just the kind of personal info medical insurance companies will now sell to our employers so we can be fired or laid-off. All ready if you take a new job it is the case any 'pre-existing' illness can be used against the employee or their family and make them wait (suffer?) for 3 months before beginning treatment or care needed.
dirk_bruere
Oct 03, 2008

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
More research from the university of the obvious.
Next, researchers say that employees who regularly complain of chest pains are more likely to die of heart attacks.
Rank 3.6 /5 (12 votes)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

New ability to regrow blood vessels holds promise for treatment of heart disease

(Medical Xpress) -- University of Texas at Austin researchers have demonstrated a new and more effective method for regrowing blood vessels in the heart and limbs — a research advancement that could have ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 27 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New tumor suppressor gene identified

A recent study published in Clinical Cancer Research suggests that the protein hVps37A suppresses tumor growth in ovarian cancer. The work, which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, shows, for th ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 1 hour ago | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Motivation to exercise affects behavior

(Medical Xpress) -- For many people, the motivation to exercise fluctuates from week to week, and these fluctuations predict whether they will be physically active, according to researchers at Penn State. In an effort to ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 17 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'It's not nutritious until it's eaten'

As part of her "Let's Move! Initiative," First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled a new web resource highlighting new changes in the Chefs Move to Schools, during a CMST gathering in Dallas, TX today. CMTS advocates ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 4 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Packard Children's has smallest child yet to get pacemaker

Jaya Maharaj was 15 minutes old when she was sent to surgery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and given a pacemaker that saved her life. The tiny girl — born nine weeks early, weighing 3.5 pounds, ...

Medicine & Health / Cardiology

created 56 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Fast photon control brings quantum photonic technologies closer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using photons instead of electrons to transmit information could lead to faster and more secure ways to communicate, among other advantages. Now a team of physicists has taken another step toward realizing ...

Transforming galaxies

(PhysOrg.com) -- Many of the Universe's galaxies are like our own, displaying beautiful spiral arms wrapping around a bright nucleus. Examples in this stunning image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on ...

'Smart' microcapsules in a single step

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new, single-step method of fabricating microcapsules, which have potential commercial applications in industries including medicine, agriculture and diagnostics, has been developed by researchers ...

A continent ablaze in auroral and manmade light

The North American continent is literally set ablaze in a confluence of Auroral and Manmade light captured in spectacular new videos snapped by the astronauts serving aboard the International Space Station ...

Nanostructured electrodes for rechargeable sodium-Ion batteries

Highly efficient 3V cathodes for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have been developed by users from Argonne National Laboratory's Materials Science, Chemical Sciences & Engineering, and X-ray Sciences Divisions, ...

A lost world? How zooarchaeology can inform biodiversity conservation

A new study of tropical forests will provide a 50,000-year perspective on how animal biodiversity has changed, explored through an archaeological investigation of animal bones.