Work loss in patients with celiac disease : A population-based longitudinal study

• BACKGROUND: Celiac disease (CD) affects around 1% of the population worldwide. Data on work disability in celiac patients remain scarce. We estimated work loss in celiac patients including its temporal relationship to diagnosis.METHODS: Through biopsy reports from Sweden's 28 pathology departments, we identified 16,005 working-aged patients with prevalent CD (villus atrophy) as of January 1, 2015, and 4,936 incident patients diagnosed with CD in 2008-2015. Each patient was matched to up to 5 general-population comparators. Using nationwide social insurance registers, we retrieved prospectively-recorded data on compensation for sick leave and disability leave to assess work loss in patients and comparators.RESULTS: In 2015, patients with prevalent CD had a mean of 42.5 lost work days as compared with 28.6 in comparators (mean difference: 14.7, 95%CI: 13.2-16.2), corresponding to a relative increase of 49%. More than half of the work loss (60.1%) in celiac patients was derived from a small subgroup (7%) while 75.4% had no work loss. Among incident patients, the annual mean difference between patients and comparators was 8.0 (5.4-10.6) lost work days 5 years before CD diagnosis, which grew to 13.7 (9.1-18.3) days 5 years after diagnosis. No difference in work loss was observed between patients with or without mucosal healing at follow-up.CONCLUSIONS: Celiac patients lost more work days than comparators before their diagnosis, and this loss increased after diagnosis. Identifying patients with an increased risk of work loss may serve as a target to mitigate work disability, and thereby reduce work loss, in CD.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Gastroenterologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Gastroenterology and Hepatology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisation, hälsopolitik och hälsoekonomi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Economic burden

absenteeism

cost

health economics

Absenteeism

Cost

Economic Burden

Health Economics

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