Economic impact of workplace productivity losses due to allergic rhinitis compared with select medical conditions in the United States from an employer perspective

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the cost of lost productivity in the workplace due to allergic rhinitis compared to other selected medical conditions from an employer perspective.

Setting and participants: A total of 8267 US employees at 47 employer locations who volunteered to participate in health/wellness screenings.

Measurements: The Work Productivity Short Inventory was used to assess the impact of a predefined group of health conditions on workplace productivity for the previous 12 months. Both absenteeism and presenteeism (lost productivity while at work) were recorded. Costs were calculated using a standard hourly wage.

Results: Allergic rhinitis was the most prevalent of the selected conditions; 55% of employees reported experiencing allergic rhinitis symptoms for an average of 52.5 days, were absent 3.6 days per year due to the condition, and were unproductive 2.3 h per workday when experiencing symptoms. The mean total productivity (absenteeism + presenteeism) losses per employee per year were US $593 for allergic rhinitis, $518 for high stress, $277 for migraine, $273 for depression, $269 for arthritis/rheumatism, $248 for anxiety disorder, $181 for respiratory infections, $105 for hypertension or high blood pressure, $95 for diabetes, $85 for asthma, and $40 for coronary heart disease. The mean total productivity loss per employee per year due to caregiving was $102 for pediatric respiratory infections, $85 for pediatric allergies, $49 for Alzheimer's disease, and $42 for otitis media/earache.

Conclusions: Allergies are major contributors to the total cost of health-related absenteeism and presenteeism. Payers and employers need to consider this when determining health benefits for employees.

Key words: :

• Absenteeism
• Allergic rhinitis
• Cost
• Presenteeism
• Workplace productivity