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Nine in ten workers chronically ill

Posted On: Nov. 3, 2009 12:00 AM CST

New research from the Integrated Benefits Institute indicates U.S. workers are chronically ill.

They are in “dire straits” with nine in ten reporting one or more chronic health problems, according to IBI research findings released Oct. 28. The research results are based on 27,000 employee self-reported surveys collected by IBI.

Many are suffering from multiple conditions such as depression, diabetes asthma, and heart disease.

“The diversity of those multiple conditions dramatically complicates treatment and management across those conditions and leads to additional lost work time – and this is a survey of workers healthy enough to be employed,” according to IBI, which provides employers and their vendors with health and productivity research and benchmarking data.

Comp Time suspects these findings mean that work comp medical treatments and return-to-work programs are also impacted and could benefit by taking IBI's survey results into consideration.

An IBI press release on the topic is available here and more information is available upon request from IBI.