The Association between Body Mass Index and Absenteeism

Aims: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between Body Mass Index and Absenteeism.

Study Design: This article is a retrospective.

Place and Duration of Study: This study included 905 eligible employees in the Saipa automobile factory in 2016.

Methodology: Demographic information, occupational characteristics and employees’ health status and information about employee’s absences were collected from health records of staff recurrent examinations filled out by experts and physicians and from the employee absentee registration system. Ultimately, the collected data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20.

Results: Of the 905 employees participated in the study, 141 (15.6%) had authorized absenteeism (due to ill) and 105 (11.6%) had Unauthorized absenteeism. With and without controlling for any potential confounders, the Gross Absence Rate (GAR), Sickness Absence Rate (SAR) were in overweight and obese employees more than normal weight employees (P-value< 0.05) but there was no significant difference between the two Absence Frequency Rate (AFR) and Unauthorized Absence Rate (UAR) indicators in terms of BMI (P-value> 0.05).

Conclusion: According to the results; obese employees are more often absent from work due to illness and absent longer. Also development and implementation of public educational programs with particular emphasis on high-risk individuals, and focusing on healthy lifestyle and workers can be effective, resulting in improvements in physical and general health of the personnel.