FirstCare have taken the opportunity to analyse absence trends due to heart and circulatory disorders to help highlight some of the key sectors, job roles and demographics where this type of medical condition most often occurs.

Since the launch of our absence management service in 2005 we have recorded 11,313 absences due to Heart and Circulatory Disorders, adding up to 193, 631 working days lost. From studying this data there are some immediately apparent trends:

1) When comparing absence rates amongst men and women, due to heart and circulatory disorders, it can be seen that the absence rate for men is approximately 45% higher than women. The average man loses 0.27 days per year due to heart and circulatory related absence, while the average woman loses just 0.15.

2) However, when looking further into the different rates between men and women a new trend appears, with Heart and Circulatory Disorder related absence amongst men falling by 17% over the Spring months of April to June, while the rates of absence for women climbs by 10%. This correlates with the levels of stress related absence in each gender following similar patterns and is perhaps indicative that, during the transition from Spring to Summer months, women most likely take the lead in organising issues such as childcare, family holidays and household projects, in addition to their existing employment.

3) Finally, our data shows that absence due to Heart and Circulatory Disorders is 25% higher in the Private Sector than the Public Sector.

FirstCare's clinical lead has studied this informative data and strongly recommends that at this time of year it is essential to put in some additional stress coping mechanisms to reduce the risk of heart problems. A healthy lifestyle and exercise are two of the key ways to a healthy heart and low stress levels!

This analysis shows that there are perhaps key demographics, and key times of year, to raise the profile of Heart and Circulatory Disorders and organisations such as the British Heart Foundation and the Arrhythmia Alliance provide a substantial number of free literature, tools and services that promote awareness of potential heart and circulatory disorders and it’s recommend that employers encourage their staff to research and make use of these tools as part of a proactive approach to a healthy lifestyle.