Economic impact of workplace productivity losses due to allergic rhinitis compared with select medical conditions in the United States from an employer perspective

ABSTRACTObjective: To evaluate the cost of lost productivity in the workplace due to allergic rhinitis compared to other selected medical conditions from an employer perspective.Setting and participants: A total of 8267 US employees at 47 employer locations who volunteered to participate in health/wellness screenings.Measurements: The Work Productivity Short Inventory was used to assess the impact of a predefined group of health conditions on workplace productivity for the previous 12 months. Both absenteeism and presenteeism (lost productivity while at work) were recorded. Costs were calculated using a standard hourly wage.Results: Allergic rhinitis was the most prevalent of the selected conditions; 55% of employees reported experiencing allergic rhinitis symptoms for an average of 52.5 days, were absent 3.6 days per year due to the condition, and were unproductive 2.3 h per workday when experiencing symptoms. The mean total productivity (absenteeism + presenteeism) losses per employee per year were US $...