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The rate of absenteeism due to the circulatory system diseases--one of the major causes of work disablement--has largely risen recently. Those diseases constitute a serious health problem within the sickness absenteeism of workers over 40. The presented analysis refers to the impact of the so called non-health-related variables and certain variables indirectly affecting workers' health upon the absenteeism caused by the circulatory system diseases (expressed by the number of absenteeism days annually and average duration of absenteeism case). As investigating tools, multidimensional methods of statistical analysis (multiple regression model) have been used to select the factors bearing a statistically significant effect upon the sickness absenteeism caused by circulatory diseases. The developed models are related to absenteeism of men and women aged 39, over 40 and totally. The results of the analysis demonstrated that both absenteeism of men and women was largely affected by occupational and work-environment-related factors (exposure, worker's affiliation to some working group, piece-work payments). The absenteeism of men over 40 was significantly affected by age, whereas the absenteeism of women was affected by such variables as family "size", and traveling to work. Furthermore, absenteeism caused by circulatory diseases is accounted for by the variables directly determining the health condition, such as health self-estimation and absenteeism rate caused by those diseases prior to the investigation.
As part of a large-scale survey of adolescent drug use in the State of New York, two absentee studies were carried out to estimate levels of drug use among school absentees. Students interviewed in households reported very little drug use. By contrast, absentees self-selecting themselves to participate in a group-administered questionnaire reported much higher illicit drug use than regular students from the same schools. However, comparison of students in the absentee sample with the total target absentee population, and the reverse association between drug use and selected background factors among absentees, suggest that most chronic absentees and heavy users, especially blacks and males, did not participate in the self-selected absentee sample. Attempts to identify factors related to higher drug use among absentees were unsuccessful. While poor school performance brings levels of illicit drug use among regular students to levels comparable to those of the absentees, poor school performances per se does not explain the higher rates of illicit drug use among the absentees. It is clear that school absentees who are generally excluded from school surveys are extremely hard to reach for research purposes.
The study carried out at the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódź promoted an analysis of the impact of many non-disease-related factors--such as demographic, economic, social and living conditions, as well as working environment--on sickness absenteeism rates. The analysis was based on empirical data collected in one of electronic industry plants. The analysis of sickness absenteeism causes involved cause-effect models estimated by multivariate regression. The models were constructed for men and women aged up to 29, 30-39, 40-49, over 50, and total. Two parameters served as variables of absenteeism: number of absenteeism days in a given year and average duration of absenteeism case. Explanatory variables in particular models were selected from many non-disease-related variables. Multiple correlation coefficients indicated at the p = 0.05 significance level--a statistically significant correlation between the adopted explanatory variables and the variable being explained in every model. The results of estimation of particular models indicate that in the absenteeism of men and women alike, workers' health self-evaluation is essential and affects workers absenteeism in younger groups and totally. This variable significantly affects men and women's absenteeism rates exerting effects on the duration of absenteeism cases, thus also through the severity of diseases. Other variables determining--in the statistically significant way--sickness absenteeism involve: length of employment, influencing men and women's absenteeism in elder age, and occupational exposure to some hazards, which refers mainly to women. In addition, the studies demonstrated that the average duration of a disease is largely connected with workers' age.
The aim of the study was to determine which of the absenteeism parameters was responsible for the changes in absenteeism rate in the period between 1967 and 1987 and to detect the major reasons of sick absenteeism over the period. The study was carried on in an electronic plant. Changes in the sick absenteeism rate in this plant reflect general variations in morbidity and disease incidence during these years. The changes result mainly from an extremely fast growth of absenteeism rate caused by circulatory and musculoskeletal system diseases and from a constant level of absenteeism rate observed as a result of digestive system diseases. Overall, the analysis showed that the duration of individual cases of absenteeism grew with time, the process which resulted in higher absenteeism among workers suffering from circulatory and musculoskeletal system diseases, chronic gastric and duodenal ulcer diseases, hepatopathies, gallbladder diseases, +pancreatic diseases and from pregnancy, delivery and puerperium complications. This growing duration of absenteeism cases may be related to the intensity of the observed pathologies, to complications and to effectiveness of medical treatment.
Sickness absenteeism has been exhibiting, for many years now, constantly increasing trends. A particularly rapid increase in absenteeism has been that due to diseases of the circulatory and musculoskeletal systems. The object was to follow the changes in absenteeism parameters due to those two groups of diseases. The analysis was based on absenteeism data from two precision industry plants collected over 10 years. Study I involved 6509 persons, whereas study II--11 068. In groups homogeneous in respect to sex, age, and occupational exposure changes in the following absenteeism parameters were compared: (1) % of those absent for some cause, (2) average number of days per 1 absenteeism case, (3) average number of cases per 1 patient, (4) average number of days per 1 patient annually. It has been demonstrated that the increase in absenteeism rates in the groups of diseases concerned resulted mainly from prolongation of an average duration of absenteeism case.
The impact of a comprehensive worksite health promotion program on employee absenteeism in a large metropolitan school district was evaluated. Participants in the program (n = 3,846) did not differ from nonparticipants (n = 8,290) in age or sex distributions. Program participants improved their physical fitness, body composition, coronary risk factors, and overall feeling of well-being. Absenteeism was determined for the study year and for the previous year from records in the district personnel office. Absenteeism differences were evaluated by analysis of covariance by using age, sex, ethnic group, and the previous year's absenteeism as covariates. Participants who completed the health promotion program had an average of 1.25 days less absenteeism (P less than 0.0001) during the study year than nonparticipants. Regression analyses indicated that improvement in physical fitness was associated with less absenteeism. The results suggest that a reduction in absenteeism due to the health promotion program was possibly associated with an improvement in physical fitness.
A study of hypertension in an industrial setting allowed us to confirm and explore an earlier retrospective finding that the labeling of patients as hypertensive resulted in increased absenteeism from work. After screening and referral, we found that absenteeism rose (mean +/- 1 S.E.) 5.2 +/- 2.3 days per year (P less than 0.025); this 80 per cent increase greatly exceeded the 9 per cent rise in absenteeism in the general employee population during this period. The main factors associated with increased absenteeism were becoming aware of the condition (P less than 0.01) and low compliance with treatment (P less than 0.001). Subsequent absenteeism among patients unaware of their hypertension before screening was not related to the degree of hypertension, whether the worker was started on therapy, the degree of blood-pressure control achieved or exposure to attempts to promote compliance. These results have major implications for hypertension screening programs, especially since absenteeism rose among those previously unaware of their condition, regardless of whether antihypertensive therapy was begun.
A connection is generally assumed between occupational health care (in Dutch 'bedrijfsgezondheidszorg', or BGZ) and a reduction in absenteeism. In the Dutch literature various authors and researchers make great claims for the effect of occupational health care in reducing absenteeism. As yet, however, they have not concerned themselves very much with providing proof for the validity of their position. They speculate as to the positive influence of occupational health care on the health and welfare of employees and assume a direct connection between it and the reduction of absenteeism, but they do not have at their disposal empirical research results to support their speculations. So far as we know solid research of an experimental or quasi-experimental design into the relationship between occupational health care and absenteeism has never been carried out. Recently, however, an experiment with occupational health care for teaching personnel (in Dutch: Experiment met BGZ voor Onderwijspersoneel, or EBO) did take place, providing the opportunity to determine the influence of occupational health care on absenteeism in a quasi-experimental setting. Unfortunately, the results of the experiment indicate that the relationship between occupational health care and absenteeism is more complex than is generally assumed. In the course of the experiment, and in particular during the final year, the level of absence in the experimental group rose considerably, while in the control group it fell slightly. That rise was mainly due to the increase in the number of persons who were sick for a long period of time (at least 6 months).
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the importance of absenteeism due to illness in the hospital organization. A measurement of absenteeism due to illness among hospital professionals of the National Health System in the Alicante province (Spain) during the years 1988, 1989 and 1990 was carried out, as well as its repercussion on quality assurance in health care. The absenteeism index (frequency) was 5.39, 6.38 and 6.79 in 1988, 1989 and 1990, respectively. The extent of absenteeism (duration) in 1988 was 19.7 days per worker, and was 24.23 in 1989 and 26.45 in 1990. Hospitals with more than 400 beds presented during these periods poor absenteeism self-control. Maintenance personnel, nurses, administrative personnel and graduates had, in this order, the highest scores of days lost. We show that the dimension of Intrinsic Job Satisfaction, Extrinsic Job Satisfaction and Job Monotony are interrelated with absenteeism.
Sickness absenteeism increase in a given industrial plant within homogeneous employee groups may be due to: increased incidence, increased duration of absences, and increased frequency of obtaining the certificates of temporary work disability in some determined diseases. The study involved the same plant in which studies during the sixties and the seventies had been performed. The purpose of the study was to determine which of the parameters was responsible for the changes in absenteeism rate during the period 1967-1987. The analysis showed that the sickness absenteeism increase in the plant over the 20-year period discussed was 46% in men and 40% in women. The increase resulted from increased average duration of absence from ca 7 days to ca 11 days. The increase of the average number of the days of absence per one sick person was ca 9 days per year. Taking into account the employees' age it is to be noticed that in the youngest groups the increase of sickness absenteeism rate among young men was accompanied by an increase in the number of cases per one sick person per year, whereas the increase in the rate of sickness absenteeism among young women resulted also from the increase of the percentage of absentees. In those groups there was also observed an increase of average duration of absence over the same period.
The study was aimed at determination of the realation between sickness absenteeism and medical diagnosis in the groups of employees ailing frequently and for a long time. The analysis covered 5197 randomly selected workers of textile industry in Lodz, From among them a group of 1157 employees ailing for a long time (over 30 days of sickness absenteeism annually) and a group of 888 frequently ill workers (over 3 cases of absence during that period), were selected. In about 63% of the group analysed, the physicians found at least one chronic disease. The most prevalent were: diseases of circulatory, osteo-muscular and digestive systems. The study revealed a statistically significant dependence between absenteeism due to some determined disease and corresponding to that medical diagnosis in all nosologic groups analysed--both in the case of the long ailing and frequently ill patients. The relation between the absenteeism and medical diagnosis was more pronounced in the separated groups of long and frequently ailing workers than in the whole population covered by the study. This relation was most evident in the case of digestive system diseases (Yule's coefficient = 0.89) in frequently ill persons. The values of sickness absenteeism coefficients have been the highest for those causes of absence which comply with medical diagnosis and for all nosologic units they have been markedly higher in the groups of long ailing employees. The results of the study showed, that absenteeism is a better measure of health status for long ailing and frequently ill groups of workers than for the whole population analysed.
4358 male runners over age 16, competitors of the 16 km race 'Grand-prix of Berne' 1984, represent the study population of a cross-sectional survey. As a part of it, relationships between jogging and absenteeism were investigated. 16 km running time was positively associated with the number of missed work days (p less than 0.001); training activity (kilometers run per week, one-year's average) and absenteeism were related in an inverse way, but only up to a training distance of not more than 50 km/wk. Runners who smoked cigarettes missed over 50% more work days than nonsmokers (p less than 0.001). The relative importance of the motive for jogging 'as a balance to work' was associated with decreased absenteeism (p less than 0.001), whereas relative importance of competition-orientated motives was associated with increased absenteeism (p less than 0.001). A multiple regression analysis involving 8 factors was not able to explain more than 11% of the observed variance in missed work days, which underlines the complexity of this dependent variable. The question concerning a possible causal relationship between active, regular, moderate jogging and reduced absenteeism remains unanswered.