Studies find smokers perform worse at work and take more sick days

William Atkins
Friday, 30 March 2007 21:03

Science - Health

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Heading the Swedish study is economist Petter Lundborg, from the Free University in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and his colleagues. They analyzed data across Sweden with respect to the sick-leave trends of 14,000 workers between 1988 and 1991.

On average, Swedish workers took 25 sick days off each year. However, smokers took an additional eleven days off for sick days. The researchers modified these numbers to take into account various non-related factors so that, in the end, smokers took eight more days off from work when compared against non-smokers.

Psychologist Terry Conway, of San Diego State University, headed the U.S. study. Sponsored by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense, his team looked at nearly 5,000 women in the U.S. Navy between 1996 and 1997. They found a definite correlation between smoking and a reduction in job performance.

Only 45.5% of daily smokers served their full eight-year terms, while 63.0% of non-smokers completed their terms. Irregular smoking women came in at 58%. In addition, the researchers found that smokers were more likely to be discharged for various problems such as drug abuse, general medical reasons, misconduct, or personality disorders.

Both studies conclude that smoking might not be the prime reason for poor job performance, but may underlie other personality characteristics such as increased risk-taking and non-conformity and other socioeconomic factors such as lower incomes and being less educated.

Conway and his U.S. colleagues and Lundborg and his European colleagues both wrote their papers in the English journal Tobacco Control, which is part of the British Medical Association.