People who abstain from alcohol are off sick more often than those who drink moderately, study says

Absences for mental health, respiratory and digestive issues more common among people who did not drink

People who don’t drink at all are more likely to take sick days off work than their peers who drink a moderate amount, a new study has found.

Researchers investigating the “U-shaped” relationship between alcohol and absenteeism in the UK, France and Finland, found sickness rates were higher in people who drank heavily or not at all.

The study, from the researchers at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health found, this effect was most significant in mental health. People who avoided alcohol completely were about 50 per cent more likely to take have a mental health-related absence.

However the relationship also held true for digestive disorders, musculoskeletal injuries and respiratory condition-linked absences.

Lower work absences persisted even in people who consumed fairly significant amounts of alcohol each week, well above UK guidelines.

The study found the “low risk” threshold was between one and 34 UK units (roughly 12 pints of strong lager, or 15 glasses of wine) a week for men, and up to 17 UK units for women. UK guidelines say men and women should not drink more than 14 units.

Published in the leading journal Addiction, the research does not consider the increased risk of early death or diseases, like cancer, from drinking – a recent report said no amount of alcohol was safe.

It may also be that people with conditions which make them likely to take time off work were unable to, or less likely to, drink as a result, perhaps because their condition or medications prevented it – though the authors aimed to control for this statistically.

The study found abstainers were more often from poorer backgrounds, another trait related to high sickness rates and less stable work.

“Heavy use” – above the report's cited low-risk threshold – was also associated with increased work absences due to injury or poisoning.

The researchers say identifying this could be helpful for families, employers and health services to identify and intervene in problem drinking.

“Some diseases, or their treatment, prevent alcohol use, which may explain the excess risks among abstainers,” said lead author Dr Jenni Ervasti.

“Moreover, participants to whom at-risk drinking causes health problems may be selected out from the labour market, that is, if they retire early or become unemployed. Then, the adverse effects are not seen in absence from work due to illness.”

The data came from alcohol use surveys taken by a total of 47,520 people across the three countries between 1985 and 2004, and matched them with records of their work absences.

Dr James Nicholls said despite the limitations of the study design “the findings are important”, especially as the trend held true across three countries with very different drinking cultures.

He added: “It doesn’t say abstinence causes ill health, rather that – for reasons still unclear – abstainers are more likely to also be unwell.

“However, while the findings don’t provide evidence that ‘alcohol is good for you’, they do suggest drinking moderately is not likely to lead to missing work through illness.”