The Burden of Illness of Employees on United States Employers: A Critical Review of the Literature

Diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, cardiovascular disease, depression, gastrointestinal disease, HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, and migraine cast a significant burden of employees on United States employers. The purpose of this study was to critically review published literature on the burden of diseases. The results indicate that there are very few studies published with data on the burden of illness on United States employers. Only 35 articles were found discussing indirect costs of illness such as absenteeism, productivity, short- or long-term disability (STD, LTD) and drug costs. Interpretation of these cost analyses is limited because of variation in methodology and measures between the studies. These include monetary and nonmonetary measures, obtained from different groups of patients using different techniques. Although the results confirm that these diseases have a significant impact on employers, there is no standardized measure to quantitate this impact. The current state of the literature suggests that primary research studies should be conducted with large firms or organizations to determine the actual impact of employee illness.