Paid Sick Leave and Cancer Screening

A novel study has examined the changes in breast cancer and colorectal cancer screening rates during a particular span when several US states and cities adopted policies mandating paid sick leave. They have concluded that if workers are granted sick leave via mandates, breast cancers screening rates will increase by 9-12%, and colorectal screening rates will move up by 21-29%.

Although past studies have unfolded the relationship between sick days and cancer screening rates, this study has probed into the change in screening rates driven by policy mandates to weed out any behaviour-based bias and build?a more accurate estimate of the relationship between paid sick leave and cancer screening. The findings have highlighted the criticality of sick days in boosting cancer screenings which in turn are known to help early detection and lasting outcomes. Having said that, the assumption that paid sick leaves help early detection and reduce mortality rates merits validation through a more granular research.?

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