Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jun;26(3):478-85.
doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckw031. Epub 2016 Apr 9.

Influenza in workplaces: transmission, workers' adherence to sick leave advice and European sick leave recommendations

Christina Hansen Edwards  1 , Gianpaolo Scalia Tomba  2 , Birgitte Freiesleben de Blasio  3
Affiliations
Review

Influenza in workplaces: transmission, workers' adherence to sick leave advice and European sick leave recommendations

Christina Hansen Edwards et al. Eur J Public Health. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Knowledge about influenza transmission in the workplace and whether staying home from work when experiencing influenza-like illness can reduce the spread of influenza is crucial for the design of efficient public health initiatives.

Aim: This review synthesizes current literature on sickness presenteeism and influenza transmission in the workplace and provides an overview of sick leave recommendations in Europe for influenza.

Methods: A search was performed on Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Cinahl, Web of Science, Scopus and SweMed to identify studies related to workplace contacts, -transmission, -interventions and compliance with recommendations to take sick leave. A web-based survey on national recommendations and policies for sick leave during influenza was issued to 31 European countries.

Results: Twenty-two articles (9 surveys; 13 modelling articles) were eligible for this review. Results from social mixing studies suggest that 20-25% of weekly contacts are made in the workplace, while modelling studies suggest that on average 16% (range 9-33%) of influenza transmission occurs in the workplace. The effectiveness of interventions to reduce workplace presenteeism is largely unknown. Finally, estimates from studies reporting expected compliance with sick leave recommendations ranged from 71 to 95%. Overall, 18 countries participated in the survey of which nine (50%) had issued recommendations encouraging sick employees to stay at home during the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, while only one country had official recommendations for seasonal influenza.

Conclusions: During the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic, many European countries recommended ill employees to take sick leave. Further research is warranted to quantify the effect of reduced presenteeism during influenza illness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Outline of the search method used for the review
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Szucs T. The socio-economic burden of influenza. J Antimicrob Chemother 1999;44:11–5. - PubMed
    1. Peasah SK, Azziz-Baumgartner E, Breese J, et al. Influenza cost and cost-effectiveness studies globally—a review. Vaccine 2013;31:5339–48. - PubMed
    1. Szucs T, Nichol K. Economic and social impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza. Vaccine 2006;24:6776–8. - PubMed
    1. Keech M, Scott A, Ryan P. The impact of influenza and influenza-like illness on productivity and healthcare resource utilization in a working population. Occup Med 1998;48:85–90. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC Recommendations for the Amount of Time Persons with Influenza-Like Illness Should be Away from Others. 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/exclusion.htm. [accessed: 06.01.2016].

MeSH terms