The burden of influenza-like illness in the US workforce

Abstract

Background The disease burden of influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) on the working population has been documented in the literature, but statistical evidence of ILI-related work absenteeism in the USA is limited due to data availability. Aims To assess work absenteeism due to ILIs among privately insured employees in the USA in 2007–8 and 2008–9. Methods We used the 2007–9 MarketScan® research databases. Full-time employees aged 18–64 years, with the ability to incur work absence and continuously enroled in the same insurance plan during each season were included. We identified ILI episodes using ICD-9 codes for influenza and pneumonia (480–487). For each season, we calculated the mean work-loss hours per ILI episode and the proportion of employees who had at least one ILI episode. Work-loss hours and ILI rates were examined by subgroups. Results The mean number of work hours lost per ILI episode was 23.6 in 2007–8 and 23.9 in 2008–9. The proportion of employees with at least one ILI was 1.7% in 2007–8 and 1.2% in 2008–9. In both seasons, the proportion with ILI was higher among older (2.1 and 1.5%) and hourly workers (2.0 and 1.3%), workers in the southern region (1.9 and 1.3%) and those in oil, gas or mining industries (1.9 and 1.4%). Conclusions Our results indicate that the disease burden associated with ILIs in the working population is not trivial and deserves attention from policymakers and health care professionals to design effective strategies to reduce this burden.

Impact of Influenza on Outpatient Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths by Using a Time Series Poisson Generalized Additive Model

“…A large number of evidence shows that influenza can lead to increased mortality rates due to heart and lung disease, which can cause great epidemiological and economic burdens to the community [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The average annual incidence of influenza-associated hospitalizations is particularly high in children <5 years of age [12,13], greatly promoting the development of vaccination strategies.…”

Influenza‐like illness in healthcare personnel at a paediatric referral hospital: Clinical picture and impact of the disease

“…In 78% of the HP interviewed, an absence from their work in the hospital was required, with an average of two and a half days. According to data published by Tsai et al., the average work time lost by insured workers with ILI in the United States in the 2007‐2008 and 2008‐2009 seasons was approximately 24 hours per episode . Other authors who have studied the effect of influenza infection in the economically active population have reported an average of absenteeism between 1.5 and 4.9 days per episode of laboratory‐confirmed influenza .…”

Potential Economic Benefits of Paid Sick Leave in Reducing Absenteeism Related to the Spread of Influenza-Like Illness

“…Employees with ILI missed an average of 2 to 6.5 workdays per year. 42–45 We used a minimum of 2 and an average of 3 workdays lost per year to estimate the total number of workdays lost due to ILI spread by workers without PSL.…”