Studies on the Duration of Disabling Sickness: VII. Duration Table for Specific Causes of Disability among Male Workers

Abstract

The first paper (1) of the series on the duration of disabling sickness and nonindustrial injuries was based on ended cases lasting 8 calendar days or longer that had been reported periodically by 25 industrial sick benefit organizations for the 3-year period, 1935-37. These organizations subscribed to waiting and maximum benefit periods of varying length. The paper presented principally two basic tables showing industrial morbidity by sex and broad cause group. One table gave the average annual number of cases per 1,000 persons causing disability for a specified number of days, t, or more, and the other, the average annual number of days of disability per person resulting from all disabilities contributing t days or less, the t in both instances varying from 8 through 372 days. It had been planned originally to base the present report on the experiences of 8 industrial sick benefit organizations all subscribing to a maximum benefit period of 52 weeks. The pertinent analyses have been made in this connection, and because of the relatively small number of female workers included in the records, attention was restricted to the disability reports on males. Furthermore, the analyses were made specific for waiting period. Six of the organizations had a waiting period of 7 days, 1 organization connected with a public utility company had no waiting period, and 1 whose membership was composed of workers in an oil refining company had no waiting period for salaried workers but a waiting period of several days for the other workers. The results of the analyses of the combined experiences of the 6 organizations with a 7-day waiting period showed the two principal tables presenting frequency and disability rates, respectively, to agree essentially with the corresponding tables published in the earlier paper; the frequency rates as well as the disability rates for each of the other 2 organizations, on the other hand, differed from each other and from those already published. These differences are primarily attributable to differences in the length of the waiting period, since it has been found in earlier experiences that organizations with relatively short waiting periods, or no waiting periods at all, are likely to have a more complete record of the 8-day or longer cases than those organizations with longer waiting periods. The present paper and the succeeding one 2 will, therefore, be