People in Lower Franconia were sick just as often during the pandemic as before Corona. This is the result of figures published today by AOK-Bayern, the largest health insurance company in the Free State.
The hospital city in Lower Franconia was almost continuously at 5.4 percent from 2018 to 2021 (2020: 5.3 percent) and thus above the Bavarian average of 4.8 percent. The sick leave indicates the proportion of sickness-related absences in the actual annual working time.
On average, people were at home for 13.8 days per illness last year. In 2018/19 it was 12.6 days. However, in the two years before the pandemic, there were even more individual cases of illness, namely 155.6 per 100 insured persons (2021: 141.8). The number of sick days has therefore remained almost the same overall.
People have backs
Musculoskeletal disorders are the front-runners among the illnesses that caused insured persons to miss out due to illness. And here especially the back pain. Measured by the number of days absent, mental illnesses, such as burnout, are in second place. Followed by respiratory diseases, i.e. the classic flu infection.
The number of absences due to “normal” respiratory diseases has decreased somewhat in the last two years, and corona infections have been added.
Sick more often and for shorter periods
In 2021, people with AOK insurance in the city and district of Würzburg, as well as in the district of Main-Spessart, reported sick less often than in 2020. Although there were more sick reports overall, people returned from sick leave faster than the year before.
Overall, people were less sick. The situation is different in the Kitzingen district. Here, too, sick leave has increased, but the duration of sickness has only decreased slightly compared to the previous year – so people were ill here for longer overall than in 2020.
Regional differences
In Würzburg, AOK policyholders were sick for an average of 15.1 days. In the district of Würzburg it was 17.4 days. In the districts of Main-Spessart and Kitzingen, employees were ill for an average of 20.2 days.
The average for Lower Franconia is 19.5 days. The region is thus slightly above the Bavarian figure of 17.5 sick days per year and employee.
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