Smokers make poorer workers

Smokers take an additional eight days of sick leave a year and are more likely to perform poorly in the workplace compared with non-smokers, according to two new studies published today.

Smokers in Sweden took almost 11 extra days off sick compared with their non-smoking colleagues, researchers at the Free University of Amsterdam found. They analyzed national data on sickness absence in 14,000 workers between 1988 and 1991.

The number was adjusted to account for smokers' tendency to choose riskier jobs and have poorer underlying health, bringing the difference to just below eight days a year, said the researchers, led by Petter Lundborg.