An assessment of the relationships between overweight, obesity, related chronic health conditions and worker absenteeism

SummaryIntroductionWorker absenteeism is an important area of study within the field of occupational health. Prior studies have linked the presence of obesity to higher rates of absenteeism, but have not examined whether or not the relationship is moderated by the presence of other chronic health conditions or whether or not the relationships have been stable over time.MethodsData from the 2000 and 2010 National Health Interview Survey, a nationally representative sample of the US population, were analyzed to determine the extent to which the presence of 5 obesity-related chronic health conditions moderates the relationship between overweight/obesity and worker absenteeism, and whether or not these relationships are stable over time. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationships between overweight/obesity, the obesity-related chronic health conditions and worker absenteeism, while controlling for demographic, socio-economic, occupational, health related and behavioral variables.ResultsThe findings suggest that obesity (p < 0.01) is related to higher rates of worker illness absence, and that the presence of diabetes positively moderates this relationship (p < 0.05) within the severely obese population (class III – BMI ≥ 40). Other health conditions, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, other heart disease and stroke, were not found to have significant moderating effects.ConclusionThe evidence suggests that obesity is associated with a higher likelihood of worker illness absenteeism, and that the effect is doubled for those with both class III obesity (BMI ≥ 40) and diabetes. The moderating effect between class III obesity and diabetes was observed only in 2010, indicating that this may be a relatively new phenomenon.