TY - JOUR

T1 - Changing patterns of sickness absence among healthcare workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic

AU - Edge, Rhiannon

AU - van der Plaat, Diana

AU - Parsons, Vaughan

AU - Coggon, David

AU - van Tongeren, Martie

AU - Muiry, Rupert

AU - Madan, Ira

AU - cullinan, Paul

N1 - This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Public Health following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Rhiannon Edge, Diana A van der Plaat, Vaughan Parsons, David Coggon, Martie van Tongeren, Rupert Muiry, Ira Madan, Paul Cullinan, Changing patterns of sickness absence among healthcare workers in England during the COVID-19 pandemic, Journal of Public Health, 2022 44: e42-e50 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/44/1/e42/6369023

PY - 2022/3/31

Y1 - 2022/3/31

N2 - AbstractBackgroundPatterns of sickness absence shed useful light on disease occurrence and illness-related behaviours in working populations.MethodsWe analysed prospectively collected, pseudonymized data on 959 356 employees who were continuously employed by National Health Service trusts in England from 1 January 2019 to 31 July 2020, comparing the frequency of new sickness absence in 2020 with that at corresponding times in 2019.ResultsAfter exclusion of episodes directly related to COVID-19, the overall incidence of sickness absence during the initial 10 weeks of the pandemic (March–May 2020) was more than 20% lower than in corresponding weeks of 2019. Trends for specific categories of illness varied substantially, with a fall by 24% for cancer, but an increase for mental illness. A doubling of new absences for pregnancy-related disorders during May–July of 2020 was limited to women with earlier COVID-19 sickness absence.ConclusionsVarious factors will have contributed to the large and divergent changes that were observed. The findings reinforce concerns regarding delays in diagnosis and treatment of cancers and support a need to plan for a large backlog of treatment for many other diseases. Further research should explore the rise in absence for pregnancy-related disorders among women with earlier COVID-19 sickness absence.

AB - AbstractBackgroundPatterns of sickness absence shed useful light on disease occurrence and illness-related behaviours in working populations.MethodsWe analysed prospectively collected, pseudonymized data on 959 356 employees who were continuously employed by National Health Service trusts in England from 1 January 2019 to 31 July 2020, comparing the frequency of new sickness absence in 2020 with that at corresponding times in 2019.ResultsAfter exclusion of episodes directly related to COVID-19, the overall incidence of sickness absence during the initial 10 weeks of the pandemic (March–May 2020) was more than 20% lower than in corresponding weeks of 2019. Trends for specific categories of illness varied substantially, with a fall by 24% for cancer, but an increase for mental illness. A doubling of new absences for pregnancy-related disorders during May–July of 2020 was limited to women with earlier COVID-19 sickness absence.ConclusionsVarious factors will have contributed to the large and divergent changes that were observed. The findings reinforce concerns regarding delays in diagnosis and treatment of cancers and support a need to plan for a large backlog of treatment for many other diseases. Further research should explore the rise in absence for pregnancy-related disorders among women with earlier COVID-19 sickness absence.

KW - COVID-19

KW - Healthcare workers

KW - Sickness absence

U2 - 10.1093/pubmed/fdab341

DO - 10.1093/pubmed/fdab341

M3 - Journal article

VL - 44

SP - e42-e50

JO - Journal of Public Health

JF - Journal of Public Health

SN - 1741-3842

IS - 1

ER -