What arthritis costs employers

In the February/March 2006 issue of MRO Today (page 36), we reported on a study by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, which verified a link between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and occupational exposure to mineral oils, in particular hydraulic or motor oil.

Now, a new study by the Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies has assessed the costs associated with RA in a sample of 8,502 workers at nine U.S. companies. The bottom-line cost was $111 per employee per year — for every employee, not just those with RA.

Another remarkable finding was that in 2003, annual medical costs for workers with RA were an average of $4,244 higher than for workers without RA. Nearly all of these extra costs associated with RA were for direct medical care; indirect costs such as absenteeism or short-term disability were only slightly elevated for workers with RA.

With adjustment for prevalence, RA is the fourth most expensive medical condition; only heart disease, hypertension, and depression carry higher costs on a per-worker basis. The $111 per employee per year figure is higher than the costs for conditions such as low back pain or asthma.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes long-term damage to the joints, resulting in pain and disability. Women are affected three times more often than men. Its occupational impact is increased because most patients affected with RA are in their prime working years — between the ages of 25 and 55.

Information on accommodating workers with RA and
other disabilities can be found at http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/publicat.htm.

This article appeared in the April/May 2006 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright, 2006.

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