The effect of disease prevention and health promotion on workplace productivity: A literature review

This report was prepared by the Center for Disease Prevention and Health Pr omotion in the Institute for Health and Productivity Management as Dart of an effort to improve understanding of the connection between employee healt h and performance and to begin to identify new strategies through which tre ating health as an investment in human capital can lead to greater business success. Computer database searches of peer-reviewed literature published between 1993 and 1998 and manual reviews of 20 journals were used to identi fy research on the link between employee health and performance. Data was e xtracted to summarize the overall findings on the magnitude of health probl ems addressed by health promotion and disease prevention programs, and the impact of interventions on improving health risk, reducing medical care cos t, and improving worker performance. From this summary major conclusions on early detection of disease, the impact of behavior change programs, and ap propriate care-seeking were drawn. This systematic review is supplemented w ith summaries of 15 seminal articles and descriptions of five leading-pract ices programs. The influence of developments in work/family issues, complem entary and alternative medicine, and quality of care and health outcomes re search are briefly discussed. Finally, a conceptual framework for studying the impact of health and productivity is described.