Lay summary

Long-term lung conditions are a major health issue, affecting 1 in 5 people in the UK. More than 12 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with a lung condition. These conditions can affect people’s health and quality of life. They can also affect people’s ability to work and may lead to time off work. This can have financial effects on workers and their families, employers, the NHS and the wider economy.

A fit note, previously called a sick note, is a document that gives advice about whether someone is able to work because of their health. It can say that a person is not fit for work or that they may be able to work if changes are made to support them. Information from fit notes can therefore help us understand how health conditions affect people’s ability to work and their need to take time off.

There is still limited evidence about how long-term lung conditions affect people’s working lives in the UK. We do not know enough about how often people with different lung conditions need time off work, which groups of people are most affected, or how much this time off work costs. This study aims to answer these questions.

This study will use information from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD Aurum), a large database containing anonymised health records from GP practices in the UK. Anonymised means that information that could directly identify individual patients is removed. We will examine how often fit notes are issued to adults aged 16 to 65 with a lung condition, whether this differs according to factors such as age, sex, ethnicity and income level, and whether patterns of fit notes have changed over time. We will also estimate the costs linked to time off work. The study will focus on five long-term lung conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, interstitial lung disease, bronchiectasis, and obstructive sleep apnoea.

This study will help us understand how long-term lung conditions affect people’s ability to work and the financial costs linked to time off work. It will also help us identify groups of people who may be more likely to experience sickness absence. The findings could help the NHS, employers and policymakers understand where more support may be needed. They could also help inform future healthcare and workplace policies designed to support people with lung conditions to stay in work where possible, reduce inequalities and lessen the financial impact of sickness absence.