Connective tissue disease-related ILD leads to significant workplace productivity loss

In a new study, 59% of patients with connective tissue disease-related interstitial lung disease reported significant workplace productivity loss unexplained by symptoms or lung physiology.

“This large prospective cohort study is the first to show that the majority of patients with fibrotic [connective tissue disease]-ILD are potential participants in the workforce, that only 35% of patients [younger than] 70 years ... are currently employed and that workplace productivity loss in this cohort is significantly greater than that in a matched Canadian population,” Mohammed Algamdi, MBBS, of the department of medicine at the University of British Columbia and the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada, and of the department of pulmonary and critical care medicine at King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia, and colleagues wrote in Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Researchers enrolled 375 patients with fibrotic connective tissue disease-ILD from the Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis to assess the employment rate and workplace productivity loss, as well as associated factors and costs. Health-related workplace productivity loss was evaluated through the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire. Average productivity loss in hours per week were used to calculate costs of productivity loss based on hourly wages obtained from national census data. These outcomes were compared between patients with connective tissue disease-ILD and patients with nonconnective tissue disease-ILD.

Thirty percent of patients with fibrotic connective tissue disease-ILD in the study were employed. Fifty-nine percent of those employed reported workplace productivity loss, with a mean loss of 3.9 hours per week from absenteeism and 5.5 hours per week from presenteeism, according to the results.

Among patients aged 25 to 54 years with fibrotic connective tissue disease-ILD, employment was 27% lower compared with the matched general Canadian population (56% vs. 83%; P < .001). Among patients aged at least 55 years with connective tissue disease-ILD, employment was 17% lower compared with the matched general Canadian population (19% vs. 36%; P < .001), the researchers reported.

Respiratory symptoms or lung physiology were not factors for workplace productivity loss in this study, according to the researchers.

The estimated annual cost of workplace productivity loss was 13,593 Canadian dollars per employee with fibrotic connective tissue disease-ILD. These results were similar for patients with fibrotic connective tissue disease-ILD and those with nonconnective tissue disease fibrotic ILD, according to the results.

“These findings further illustrate the substantial burden of fibrotic [connective tissue disease]-ILD on both individual patients and society as a whole,” the researchers wrote. “Further studies are needed to identify major factors that contribute to productivity loss and to suggest potential intervention strategies for patients with fibrotic [connective tissue disease]-ILD.”