The Impact of Diabetes on Workforce Participation: Results from a National Household Sample.

Diabetes is a highly prevalent condition that results in substantial morbidity and premature mortality. We investigated how diabetes-associated mortality, disability, early retirement, and work absenteeism impacts workforce participation.We used the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a national household sample of adults aged 51–61 in 1992, as a data source.We conducted cross-sectional analyses on the baseline HRS data, and longitudinal analyses using data from eight years of follow-up. We used two-part regression models to estimate the adjusted impact of diabetes on workforce participation, and then estimated the economic impact of diabetes-related losses in productivity.Diabetes is a significant predictor of lost productivity. The incremental lost income due to diabetes by 1992 was$60.0 billion over an average diabetes duration of 9.7 years. From 1992 to 2000, diabetes was responsible for$4.4 billion in lost income due to early retirement,$0.5 billion due to increased sick days,$31.7 billion due to disability, and$22.0 billion in lost income due to premature mortality, for a total of$58.6 billion dollars in lost productivity, or$7.3 billion per year.In the U.S. population of adults born between 1931 and 1941, diabetes is associated with a profound negative impact on economic productivity. By 1992, an estimated$60 billion in lost productivity was associated with diabetes; additional annual losses averaged$7.3 billion over the next eight years, totaling about$120 billion by the year 2000. Given the rising prevalence of diabetes, these costs are likely to increase substantially unless countered by better public health or medical interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]