Lifestyle factors associated with presenteeism among city government office workers: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: Presenteeism is a critical issue in occupational health. This study aimed to examine the association between presenteeism and subjective sleep quality, smoking status, and alcohol consumption.Methods: Anonymous data of 777 workers in a Japanese city were retrospectively obtained from City Government Office A. They included variables like absolute presenteeism scores (measured using the Japanese version of the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire short form), gender, age, family status, subjective sleep quality, smoking status, and alcohol consumption. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed with gender, age, family status, subjective sleep quality, smoking status, and alcohol consumption as the independent variables, and absolute presenteeism scores equal to or below 40 as the dependent variable. A gender-stratified binary logistic regression analysis was also performed.Results: The logistic regression analysis results revealed that absolute presenteeism was positively associated with poor subjective sleep quality among all respondents (odds ratio [OR], 1.70; 95% CI, 1.18-2.44) and men (OR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.12-3.05) and with current drinkers among women (OR, 3.49; 95% CI, 1.36-8.92); it was negatively associated with age among those who were >= 50 years old (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.27-0.93) and with current drinkers among men (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.20-0.92).Conclusions: The factors associated with presenteeism differed between men and women office workers, suggesting that gender differences need to be considered when working toward improving workers' productivity. Key points: center dot What is already known on this topic.A number of health problems are associated with productivity loss. Several recent studies have reported that productivity loss due to presenteeism exceeds that due to absenteeism, increasing the importance of studies on presenteeism. Several studies suggested that subjective sleep quality, smoking, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related problems were associated with absenteeism and presenteeism. However, few studies have been conducted on city government office workers, and gender differences in the relationship between lifestyle factors and presenteeism have been rarely reported.center dot What this study adds.This study found that poor subjective sleep quality was associated with presenteeism among city government office workers, which is consistent with previous studies of other occupational workers. The association was particularly pronounced among men. Furthermore, this study found that women and men who consume alcohol are at higher and lower risk for presenteeism, respectively. This study contributes to the existing literature by identifying gender differences in the relationship between alcohol consumption and presenteeism.center dot How this study might affect research, practice, or policy.This study suggests that considering gender differences is crucial in conducting research on presenteeism. Gender differences may exist in the relationship between lifestyle and presenteeism among Japanese city government office workers, and gender-sensitive strategies should be implemented to increase productivity.