Uncontrolled asthma is not only a burden for sufferers – it’s also a drain on Canadian productivity, even when the people who struggle with it show up for work.
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health found that the biggest losses are not from absenteeism, but “presenteeism” – reporting for work but not doing the job as well as it could be done because of a medical condition.
The team recruited 300 employed adults with asthma in Vancouver and Kelowna, and classified their condition as “controlled,” “party controlled” or “uncontrolled,” based on five criteria, including the degree of wheezing, coughing and chest tightness, how much their activity was limited, their need for medication, and objective measures of airway obstruction.
The volunteers completed two questionnaires that encompassed both hours lost on the job and impact on team productivity, the availability of replacements and time sensitivity of their tasks. The researchers then used standard wage tables to calculate the impact.
The study, by health economist Mohsen Sadatsafavi and published this week in the journal Chest, found that people with uncontrolled asthma incurred $185, or four hours, in lost productivity per week. Assuming 50 work weeks per year, the total productivity loss would reach an annual average of $9240 per employee, compared to those whose asthma is controlled.
The researchers found that 90 percent of reduced workplace productivity stemmed from presenteeism, and that controlling asthma thus had a much bigger impact on such on-the-job losses than on absenteeism.
Most people with asthma can control it if take their medications regularly, in the proper manner, and avoid irritants, such as tobacco smoke. Dr. Sadatsafavi says this study underlines not only the hidden costs of asthma beyond direct medical services, but the importance of finding ways to improve asthma control.
“Disappointingly, more than 40% of our sample had poorly controlled asthma, indicating that there is a gap in care and that this is a preventable burden,” said Dr. Sadatsafavi, an assistant professor in the Division of Respiratory Medicine, and a scientist at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation
“If we can figure out how to improve adherence to medication, and how to get asthma patients to take precautions in their everyday life, society would reap tremendous benefits,” he said.