|
Diabetes
Affects Worker
Productivity and Salary
NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Diabetes takes a substantial toll on patients' pocketbooks
as well as their health, researchers report.
People with
type 1 and type 2 diabetes are more likely to miss work than their
healthy colleagues. As a result, their annual income may be reduced
by as much as one-third, according to study findings published
in the January issue of Diabetes Care.
The report,
based on data from 1989, found that diabetes reduced the annual
income of US workers anywhere from $3,700 to $8,700. For example,
the average healthy white American man aged 55 or older earned
about $27,500, while a similar man with diabetes earned about
$18,800, Dr. Ying Chu Ng, from Hong Kong Baptist University in
China, and colleagues explain.
People with
diabetes were 3.5% less likely to be in the labor force than those
without the disease, after adjusting for age, social circumstances
and health status, the authors note.
Diabetics
who also have complications were 12% less likely to be employed,
compared with diabetics who do not suffer from medical complications.
And those with complications worked 3.2 fewer days every 2 weeks,
results show.
``In sum,
diabetes complications have an enormous effect on work loss,''
study co-author Dr. Philip Jacobs, from the Institute of Health
Economics in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, told Reuters Health.
Diabetes accounted
for $27 billion in direct medical costs and $32 billion in indirect
or lost productivity costs in 1997, according to the American
Diabetes Association.
``The avoidance
or retardation of complications will have an impact on indirect
health-related costs,'' the researchers conclude.
The findings
are based on an analysis of national data on more than 1,300 people
with diabetes. Data included workforce participation, hours of
work, job and demographic variables, and health status. The study
included blue- and white-collar workers.
SOURCE:
Diabetes Care 2001;24:257-261.
Reference
Source 89
For more information on how to prevent obesity or diabetes, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
|
