Factors for reducing monetary loss due to presenteeism using a tailored healthcare web-application among office workers with chronic neck pain: a single-arm pre-post comparison study

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the factors for reducing monetary loss due to presenteeism by using a tailored healthcare web-application among office workers with chronic neck pain. Methods: The study was singlearm pre-post comparison study using secondary data of 130 Japanese office workers with chronic neck pain who used a tailored healthcare web-application (web-app) over 12 weeks. This data was obtained from BackTech Inc. (Kyoto, Japan), which manages the healthcare web-app. The primary outcome measure was the monetary loss due to presenteeism based on the quality and quantity method. Secondary outcome measures were intensity of physical symptoms measured by the Visual Analog Scale, frequency of web-app use obtained from the database, and the risk of depression score assessed by the Depression and Suicide Screen. Results: Eighty-six participants were included in the complete-case analysis. Monetary loss due to presenteeism and the risk of depression reduced, while physical symptoms improved significantly ( p< 0.01) after using the web-app. After covariate adjustment, decrease in neck pain intensity (β = 0.25, confidence interval = 2.34 to 32.66) and high frequency of web-app use (β = −0.24, confidence interval = −10.29 to − 0.63) were significantly associated with a reduction in monetary loss due to presenteeism. Conclusion: Neck pain intensity and frequency of web-app use may be important factors for reducing monetary loss due to presenteeism among office workers with chronic neck pain who used a tailored health care web-app.

Keywords

• chronic pain
• monetary loss
• neck pain
• telemedicine