Work absenteeism in men who are labelled hypercholesterolaemic at screening

Screening participants are frequently informed that they are hypercholesterolaemic. This study aimed at analysing whether such information induces a feeling of ill health, reflected in increased work absenteeism. A total of 1594 male construction workers aged from 20 to 59 years participated in an occupational health based screening programme. Men with plasma cholesterol greater than or equal to 6.9 mmol.l-1 (n = 184) were informed that they were hypercholesterolaemic and that they were at increased risk for heart attack. Comparison of health insurance data for the calendar year before and after screening, revealed that the relative risk for an hypercholesterolaemic subject to increase the annual number of sick-listing episodes was 1.01 (95% confidence interval: 0.93-1.10 compared to normocholesterolemic men. The annual number of days on sick leave carried a relative risk of increasing by 0.92 (95% confidence interval: 0.75-1.14). The results suggest that if patients know they are hypercholesterolaemia it does not necessarily mean that they perceive themselves as really ill.