Sickness Absence Among Insulin‐treated Diabetic Employees

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the sickness absence of insulin-treated diabetic employees. A case-control study using company sickness absence records for 1986 was performed on 59 diabetic patients and 59 control subjects matched by age, sex, and occupation. The patients had a similar frequency of absence to the control subjects (2.0 (range 0-7) and 1.7 (0-7) episodes yr-1, respectively). However, diabetic employees lost a larger number of working days (13.3 (0-101) vs 5.7 (0-52) days yr-1, p less than 0.03), and had a greater average length of episode of absence (5.6 (0-55) vs 2.5 (0-28) days, p less than 0.02). Males, manual workers, and those under 40 years of age accounted for significantly greater absence, but absence was also greater for diabetic employees than for control subjects in the other groups. Ten or more days were lost by 21 diabetic employees, but only 10 control subjects in 1986 (p less than 0.05).

Health-related and work-related aspects associated with sick leave: a comparison of chronically ill and non-chronically ill workers

“…When employed, moreover, the chronically ill tend to take more sick leave than their colleagues (Kessler et al 2001). Such a difference has been found for workers with diabetes (Waclawski 1990;Poole et al 1994;Mayfield et al 1999;Skerjanc 2001), psychiatric disorders (Jenkins 1985;Hensing and Spak 1998) and respiratory diseases (Alexopoulos and Burdorf 2001). This is not only because of the specific impairments of the chronic disease itself: various, nonspecific, health-related aspects also seem to play a role in the occurrence of sick leave.…”

Control of type 1 diabetes mellitus and shift work

“…A study of this kind cannot confirm a causal association between shift work and poorer diabetic control and further studies are required to investigate this association more fully. Other studies have demonstrated that this is detrimental to short-term sickness absence [3] and long-term health [7]. This study did not enquire about the varying working hours and patterns of shift working, which is a topic requiring further investigation.…”

“…In addition, a higher rate of sickness absence has been shown to be associated with manual work activity in those with diabetes [3]. Recent research continues to show that sickness absence is higher in people with diabetes (types 1 and 2) [4,5].…”

Sickness absence in diabetic employees

“…Much of the international research has not clarified how sickness absence compares between diabetic and non-diabetic employees 47 9 12-18 Each piece of research has its own limitations: some included only patients from diabetic clinics,13 in some, diabetic employees selected their controls,12 14 others did not show statistical analysis of their data 418 Some studies had relatively small samples 13…”

“…7 9 12-18 Each piece of research has its own limitations: some included only patients from diabetic clinics,13 in some, diabetic employees selected their controls,12 14 others did not show statistical analysis of their data 418 Some studies had relatively small samples 1316 In Slovenia not much is known about sickness absence of diabetic employees, but we suppose that morbidity of diabetic patients occurs more often than morbidity of non-diabetic subjects 19…”