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The current transformation of property relations and economic restructuring, along with many other factors, influence the health condition of workers. The objective of the study was to illustrate the size of the problem and to identify the major causes of work disability among persons employed in enterprises undergoing those processes during the years 1989-94 against the situation observed in the whole country during the same period. The study was carried out in one of the largest industrial plants undergoing the process of economic restructuring. The group investigated was composed of 8,588 workers (including 62.6% of males). In individual years the number of workers in this group was decreasing, and in 1994 the employment status in the group accounted for 37% in relation to the number of workers employed during the first year under observation. The analysis of work disability was based on the rate of sickness absenteeism calculated as a relationship between the number of days of work disability and the number of working days during that particular period. Due to the application of this method it was feasible to consider both workers employed and persons who left the plant, regardless of their employment duration during a year. The study showed a 20 per cent increase in sickness absenteeism during the period of 1989-94. The highest rate (8.60) was noted in 1994. It was higher by 16% in comparison to the rate for the whole country. The greatest difference between these rates was observed in 1990 (the rate in the group investigated was higher by 46%). As to the causes of work disability, the main differences concerned two categories of illnesses, diseases of the circulatory system, a major cause of sickness absenteeism in the group studied (21%), and diseases of the musculoskeletal system, a major cause of sickness absenteeism in Poland. The change in the relationship between sickness absenteeism and the age during the period of the plant restructuring resulted from the fact that a large number of workers left the job. It was observed that the rate of the sickness absenteeism was almost directly proportional to the percentage of persons leaving the plant in individual years. The study showed that changes in the size and the structure of employment resulting from the plant restructuring influence the level of sickness absenteeism, and the age-related diversification in causes of diseases, and in consequence alter the established regularities.
BACKGROUND: High attack rates of Influenzavirus among school-aged children tend to be expected to cause significant disruption of usual activities at school and at home. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effect of influenza season on illness episodes, school absenteeism, medication use, parental absenteeism from work, and the occurrence of secondary illness in families among a cohort of children enrolled in an elementary school during the 2000-2001 influenza season. DESIGN: Prospective survey study. SETTING: Kindergarten through eighth grade elementary school in Seattle, Wash. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: All children enrolled in the school were eligible for the study. Study participants were 313 children in 216 families. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was missed school days. Secondary outcomes measures included total illness episodes, febrile illness episodes, medication usage, physician visits, parental workdays missed, and secondary illnesses among family members of children in the study cohort. Differences between the rates of study events among participants when influenza was circulating and the event rates during the winter season when influenza was not circulating were used to calculate influenza-attributable excess events. RESULTS: Total illness episodes, febrile illness episodes, analgesic use, school absenteeism, parental industrial absenteeism, and secondary illness among family members were significantly higher during influenza season compared with the noninfluenza winter season. For every 100 children followed up for this influenza season, which included 37 school days, an excess 28 illness episodes and 63 missed school days occurred. Similarly, for every 100 children followed up, influenza accounted for an estimated 20 days of work missed by the parents and 22 secondary illness episodes among family members. CONCLUSION: Influenza season has significant adverse effects on the quality of life of school-aged children and their families.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess the costs of headache-related absenteeism of community-dwelling migraineurs, and to compare the amount of absenteeism between migraineurs aged 18 and older and age, sex, and occupation-matched nonheadache-prone subjects. DESIGN: Follow-up over a 3-month period. SAMPLES: 385 migraineurs and 313 nonheadache subjects representative of the setting. METHODS: Every day, the participants recorded the presence of headache, if any, and the work situation (unemployment, holiday, weekend, medical reason, nonmedical reason). Sickness-related absenteeism was the number of workdays missed or interrupted for medical reasons. Headache-related absenteeism was the sickness-related absenteeism during workdays with headaches. The annual headache-related absenteeism costs in France were extrapolated from these data in accordance with the mean income per occupational category. The incremental absenteeism and related costs were the difference between the two samples. RESULTS: Of working migraineurs, 20% had at least one period of absenteeism. During the 3 months, they missed or interrupted on average 1.4 days for medical reasons, 0.25 of which for headaches. Sickness-related absenteeism was statistically higher in migraineurs than in nonheadache-prone subjects. This difference was due to a higher absenteeism for comorbidity reasons, not for headache reasons, representing 20% of all sickness-related absenteeism. Migraineurs avoided sick leave for headache reasons. As an incremental total, 1.68 days or approximately 0.7% of the annual number of working days are lost on average per individual with migraine. The annual incremental headache-related absenteeism cost was 5.22 billions, i.e. 1,551 FF (US$240) per migraineur.
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.
BACKGROUND: Stress-related outcomes of job satisfaction and absenteeism among nurses should receive more attention in Hong Kong because absenteeism is costly. Many nurses' complaints are due to organizational change in privatization since the establishment of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority in 1991. Organizational climate is found to be an antecedent of job dissatisfaction and absenteeism in many studies in western societies. AIM: To investigate the role of organizational climate and psychological distress on job satisfaction; and the role of climate, distress and job satisfaction on absenteeism in Hong Kong nurses, while controlling for demographic variables. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from two samples of nurses within a 8-month period. They are, respectively, 144 (74 general nurses, 70 psychiatric nurses; 47 males, 97 females) and 114 (85 general nurses, 29 psychiatric nurses; 17 males, 97 females) nurses. RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses revealed that occupational type (psychiatric/general), environment (the physical conditions in the work area) and psychological distress were significant predictors of job satisfaction for sample 1; and well-being (social relations, welfare and health issues) was the only significant predictor of job satisfaction for sample 2. However, age, involvement (the degree of commitment displayed towards employees by the organization), psychological distress and job satisfaction were significant predictors of absenteeism for sample 1; and occupational type, organization (the interaction between the worker and the organization), and involvement were significant predictors of absenteeism for sample 2. CONCLUSIONS: The empirical findings provide support for the climate-job satisfaction and climate-absenteeism relationships. Psychological distress could be an antecedent of job satisfaction; and job satisfaction could be an antecedent of absenteeism. Certain climate dimensions should be improved to enhance job satisfaction and reduce distress, which in turn will reduce absenteeism.