Cost-utility analysis of a one-time supervisor telephone contact at 6-weeks post-partum to prevent extended sick leave following maternity leave in The Netherlands: results of an economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Martine C de Bruijne¹  Suzanne GM Stomp-van den Berg²  Willem van Mechelen²  Mireille NM van Poppel²  Martijn W Heymans³  Kimi Uegaki⁴  Maurits W van Tulder⁵ 

[1] Department of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Body@Work, Research Center Physical Activity, Work and Health, TNO-VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research and Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Health Technology Assessment Unit, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Public and Occupational Health, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Health Technology Assessment Unit, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;

关键词: Sick Leave;    Occupational Health;    Productivity Loss;    Parental Leave;    Maternity Leave;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-57

 received in 2010-06-30, accepted in 2011-01-27,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWorking women of childbearing age are a vital part of the population. Following childbirth, this group of women can experience a myriad of physical and mental health problems that can interfere with their ability to work. Currently, there is little known about cost-effective post-partum interventions to prevent work disability. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether supervisor telephone contact (STC) during maternity leave is cost-effective from a societal perspective in reducing sick leave and improving quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) compared to common practice (CP).MethodsWe conducted an economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial. QALYs were measured by the EuroQol 5-D, and sick leave and presenteeism by the Health and work Performance Questionnaire. Resource use was collected by questionnaires. Data were analysed according to intention-to-treat. Missing data were imputed via multiple imputation. Uncertainty was estimated by 95% confidence intervals, cost-utility planes and curves, and sensitivity analyses.Results541 working women from 15 companies participated. Response rates were above 85% at each measurement moment. At the end of the follow-up, no statistically significant between-group differences in QALYs, mean hours of sick leave or presenteeism or costs were observed. STC was found to be less effective and more costly. For willingness-to-pay levels from €0 through €50,000, the probability that STC was cost-effective compared to CP was 0.2. Overall resource use was low. Mean total costs were €3678 (95% CI: 3386; 3951). Productivity loss costs represented 37% of the total costs and of these costs, 48% was attributable to sick leave and 52% to work presenteeism. The cost analysis from a company's perspective indicated that there was a net cost associated with the STC intervention.ConclusionsSTC was not cost-effective compared to common practice for a healthy population of working mothers; therefore, implementation is not indicated. The cost-utility of STC for working mothers with more severe post-partum health problems, however, needs to be investigated. Work presenteeism accounted for half of the total productivity loss and warrants attention in future studies.Trial registration numberISRCTN: ISRCTN73119486

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Uegaki et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.