The objective of this study was (1) to determine productivity costs due to absenteeism and presenteeism among Japanese workers with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and (2) to identify additional factors associated with productivity loss among workers with RA.
An online survey of 500 RA Japanese patients was used. The Japanese version of the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (J-HAQ) was used to measure patients' functional disability. The patient health questionnaire-9 item (PHQ-9) was used to measure symptoms and severity of depression. To assess work productivity the 'work productivity and activity impairment questionnaire' for rheumatoid arthritis (WPAI-RA), a six-item validated instrument was used.
Percentages of absenteeism and presenteeism were found to be 1% and 23%, respectively. The annual combined productivity costs of both absenteeism and presenteeism was 7877 USD per patient. Factors significantly associated with a higher productivity loss were functional disability, depressive symptoms, and time since RA diagnosis, while age, and biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) treatment were significantly associated with a lower productivity loss.
Treatment of RA with bDMARDs would likely result in decreased productivity loss among Japanese patients.