Overweight, obesity and sickness absence among the workers in an automotive parts factory

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the difference of sickness absence between overweight
or obese workers and normal weight workers in an automotive parts foctory. The incidence and length of sickness absence were studied as well. The samples were 556 workers who work in an automotive parts factory in the Lad Krabang industrial estate, Bangkok. The data were collected during 1 June to 30 November 2012 by using questionnaire and sickness absence record form. Percentage and mean were used to report, and chi-square and ANOVA were used to analyze data in this study. The results found that the overall incidence of sickness absence in 6 months was 28.6% while in normal weight, overweight and obese workers were 22.8, 32.1 and 38.3, respectively. Upon analysis of the difference of sickness absence incidence between groups, there is the statistically significant difference with p-value <0.01. It also shows a trend between incidence rate and BMI (p<0.01). For the average length of sickness absence in 6 monts, the overall wass 10.9 days while in normal weight, overweight and obese workers it was 0.85, 1.13 and 1.57 days, respectively. The length of sickness absence was also different between group with p-value=0.02. However, there is only significance between the obese and normal weight groups when tested by Bonferroni. In conclusion, not only is the health of overweight and obese workers affected, but also their work.