Working while unwell: Workplace impairment in people with severe asthma

Abstract

Severe asthma was associated with impairment at work and outside the workplace. Improving asthma control and mental health may be important targets for optimizing workplace productivity in severe asthma. Presenteeism and absenteeism may represent key metrics for assessing intervention efficacy in people with severe asthma of working age.

The impact of severe asthma on patients’ autonomy: A qualitative study

“…There are several limitations to acknowledge. First, our participants did not reflect the ethnic diversity in the Australian population; however, this might reflect access to specialist care, as 85% of patients registered in the Australian Severe Asthma Web‐based Database were Caucasian . In addition, qualitative researchers do not aim for generalizability but for transferability, that is parallel to external validity or the extrapolation of findings to similar situations.…”

Health‐related quality of life burden in severe asthma

“…Comorbidities are more common in people with severe asthma than in populations with milder asthma 16 . This is also important for the patient's quality of life as prescribed treatment may be inappropriate or ineffective if asthma symptoms are aggravated or mimicked by a comorbid illness 17 .…”

“…Major functional limitation is another feature reported by 70–100% of patients with severe asthma, 8 , 9 and is characterised by decreased ability to complete daily activities (85%), 16 physical activity limitation (69%) 8 , loss in productivity at work (73%) 16 or study (64%), 2 and limits in leisure and lifestyle (78%) 9 , 28 . From a quality of life perspective, one of the most prominent limitations is in physical activity, which spans from an inability to participate in sports and vigorous activities through to an inability to walk far from a bed or chair 9 , 29 .…”

“…In terms of workplace productivity, people with severe asthma are more likely than those with milder asthma to be absent from work (27% v 18%) or feel impaired at work (73% v 43%) 16 . Limitation in employment has negative financial and emotional consequences, which, in addition to the high cost of asthma management, burden people with severe asthma and their families 4 , 31 …”

Developments in the field of clinical allergy in 2018 through the eyes of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, Part II

“…Hiles et al published a useful, if small, web-based database of adults with severe asthma. 55 Poorer asthma control generally was associated with absenteeism and self-reported impairment at work, while severe asthma per se at baseline was only associated with impairment at work. An important message here is that when exploring workplace issues associated with asthma, absenteeism alone is a poor measure and details of workplace engagement are as important as absenteeism in determining the effect of more severe asthma.…”