Study: Street dust increases year-round sick leave in Helsinki
The study assessed sick leave data for City of Helsinki employees as well as air quality data between 2002 to 2017.
Image: Tiina Jutila / Yle
The dustier the air in Helsinki, the more often City of Helsinki employees were on sick leave, according to findings from a study carried out by the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL).
The study assessed the link between daily new sick leave numbers and the concentration of respirable coarse particles on the same day and preceding days.
It found that once the concentration of the particles increased by 10 micrograms per cubic metre of breathing air, sick leave increased by 1.8 percent.