Fatigue in the U.S. Workforce: Prevalence and Implications for Lost Productive Work Time

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate fatigue prevalence and associated health-related lost productive time (LPT) in U.S. workers. METHODS: Fatigue prevalence, LPT due to fatigue, and LPT for any health-related reason (in hours and dollars) were measured in a national cross-sectional telephone survey of U.S. workers. RESULTS: The 2-week period prevalence of fatigue was 37.9%. Of workers with fatigue, 65.7% reported health-related LPT compared with 26.4% of those without fatigue. Workers with fatigue cost employers 136.4 billion dollars annually in health-related LPT, an excess of 101.0 billion dollars compared with workers without fatigue. Fatigue frequently co-occurs with other conditions and, when present, is associated with a threefold increase, on average, in the proportion of workers with condition-specific LPT. CONCLUSIONS: Fatigue is prevalent in the U.S. workforce. When occurring with other health conditions, it is associated with significantly more condition-specific LPT.