Background Several measures of at-work productivity loss (i.e. presenteeism) exist, varying in concept, recall period, and attribution¹. As a consequence, the contribution of contextual factors may vary which has important implications when considering these factors in studies evaluating the impact of inflammatory arthritis (IA) and osteoarthritis (OA) on presenteeism.

Objectives To determine demographic, job related and health related factors associated with three different global measures of presenteeism in patients with IA or OA.

Methods This large cross-sectional international EULAR-PRO study (n=8 countries) includes patients with RA, PsA, AS or OA in paid employment. Data collection included: demographics, job characteristics, health related and psychosocial factors. Patients also completed three global measures of presenteeism, varying in content, attribution and recall period. The Work Productivity Scale–Arthritis (WPS-A) measuring the affect of arthritis on productivity during the last 7 days, the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI) measuring interference of arthritis on work productivity in the last month, and the Work Ability Index (WAI) a generic scale measuring current ability to work. For interpretation purposes the scale of the WAI was reversed in this study. Due to skewed data, univariable median regression analyses were performed to assess the association between independent variables with each individual presenteeism instrument.

Results 503 patients with IA/OA were recruited in this study with a mean age of 47 (SD10) yrs and disease duration of 12.6 (SD10) yrs. Except for male patients reporting a lower WPS-A score, no other demographics were significantly associated with presenteeism (table). Being neutral/unsatisfied about the job, not being able to organize one's own work, reporting higher VAS well-being and disability scores, and experiencing reduced quality of life were all significantly associated with higher presenteeism, a result observed for all three instruments. Furthermore, those with higher anxiety and depression scores also reported having more problems at work due to ill health. Discrepancies between instruments were especially observed between the WPAI (affect of ill health on productivity)/WPS-A (interference ills health on productivity) and WAI (generic scale on ability to work) in relation to job demands, receiving help from colleagues and the option to postpone work.

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Conclusions This is the first study investigating the association of many contextual factors with three commonly used global measures of presenteeism. Overall, job satisfaction and the ability to organize one's own work are the most important job characterises associated with presenteeism and should be considered when measuring presenteeism.

References

1. Ref. Leggett et al. Content validity of global measures for at-work productivity. Rheumatology, 2016;55:1364.

References

Acknowledgements Funding: EULAR, AbbVie, BMS.

Disclosure of Interest None declared