Inflammatory joint diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, seropositive rheumatoid arthritis cause severe pain, joint obstruction and functional impairment which leads to decrease in quality of life and causes productivity losses. Polish health insurance system gathers data about absenteeism related to sick leave, short-term, long-term and permanent work disability. Using human capital approach we evaluated the total indirect costs caused by those diseases in 2012 to be equal 281 million PLN using gross domestic product per capita, 676 million PLN using gross value added per employee or 207 million PLN using gross income per employee methodology. Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis was responsible for 55% of total costs; psoriatic arthritis and enteropathic arthritis were responsible for 7% of total costs combined. Cost structure was different for each of the diseases but in each simple case short-term disability was responsible for a minor part of the total cost.

Key words: inflammatory joint diseases, quality of life, work disability, indirect costs, absenteeism.