The Self-Reported Health and Productivity Burden of Autoimmune Disorders at a Major Self-Insured Employer

Objectives: Examine the self-reported health and productivity burden of three autoimmune disorders: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: A 2009 representative survey of a major employer's US workforce, with two approaches for disease identification: (1) self...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 2012-09, Vol.54 (9), p.1049-1063
Main Authors: Allen, Harris, Bunn, William B., Naim, Ahmad B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - economics
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - epidemiology
Autoimmune diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Chicago - epidemiology
Cost of Illness
Dermatology
Diseases of the osteoarticular system
Efficiency
Female
Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen
Humans
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - economics
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - epidemiology
Inflammatory joint diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Occupational Health
Organizational Case Studies
Original Article
Other diseases. Semiology
Productivity
Psoriasis - economics
Psoriasis - epidemiology
Psoriasis. Parapsoriasis. Lichen
Self destructive behavior
Self Report
Stomach. Duodenum. Small intestine. Colon. Rectum. Anus
United States - epidemiology
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Summary:Objectives: Examine the self-reported health and productivity burden of three autoimmune disorders: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: A 2009 representative survey of a major employer's US workforce, with two approaches for disease identification: (1) self-report and (2) self-report replicated by claims-based International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9), codes. Results: Self-reported prevalence: rheumatoid arthritis, 4.2%; psoriasis, 3.0%; inflammatory bowel disease, 1.2%. Psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease replicated rheumatoid arthritis' pattern of health and productivity effects though not as strongly. The three autoimmune disorders combined significantly affected health at all severity levels. They also significantly affected productivity at higher severity but not at no symptom/lower severity levels. Conclusions: When employees with autoimmune disorders with lower severity/no symptoms do not progress to higher severity, their work performance remains on par with healthy employees. Autoimmune disorders' high impact/low prevalence offers much promise for lowering costs through benefit design.
ISSN:1076-2752
1536-5948
DOI:10.1097/JOM.0b013e3182602447