Lost Work Days

Lost work days for persons in the workforce are defined as absence from work because of illness or injury in the past 12 months, excluding maternity or family leave. Among adults with doctor-diagnosed arthritis in 2012, 12.0 million experienced lost work days. These individuals reported an average of 14.3 workdays lost in the past 12 months, far higher than the 9.9 work days reported by adults with any medical condition. This resulted in 172.1 million total work days lost due to AORC, or 33% of the 526.4 million work days lost among adults reporting any medical condition. There was little difference reported by sex in work days lost, but age was a factor, with more wor kdays lost by those aged 65 years and older. (Reference Table 4.7 PDF [1] CSV [2])