Quantifying the Employer Burden of Persistent Musculoskeletal Pain at a Large Employer in the United Kingdom A Non-interventional, Retrospective Study of Rolls-Royce Employee Data

Objective: To quantify the burden of work-relevant persistent musculoskeletal (MSK) pain to a large UK employer. Methods: A retrospective, longitudinal, analytical cohort study using linked Rolls-Royce data systems. Cases were employees with a MSK-related referral to occupational health; controls were age-, sex-, and job role-matched employees without such a referral. Outcomes were compared during 12 months' follow-up. Results: Overall, 2382 matched case-control pairs were identified (mean age: 46 y; 82% male). Cases took 39,200 MSK-related sickness absence days in total (equating to 50 pound million in sickness absence costs). Cases took significantly more all-cause sickness absence days than controls (82,341 [106 pound million] versus 19,628 [26 pound million]; P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Despite access to extensive occupational health services, the burden of work-relevant persistent MSK pain remains high in Rolls-Royce. There is a clear need to better understand how to effectively reduce this burden.

Automated summary

This study aimed to quantify the burden of work-relevant musculoskeletal pain on a large UK employer and found significant differences in sickness absence between cases and controls. Despite the availability of extensive occupational health services, there is a clear need to better understand how to effectively reduce this burden.