Besides vacation and holiday time, how many days were you absent from work last year?

Focus on giving the exact number of days you missed work and why. If the interviewer deems your absence from work an excused and unavoidable reason to miss work, it will likely not be an issue. If you have many unexcused absences, they may disqualify you as a viable candidate.

"I was not absent from work at all last year. I pride myself on staying healthy and rarely miss work because of an illness. I was not absent from work for the two years prior, as well."

"I was absent from work five days last year. I had minor, outpatient surgery, and my doctor recommended taking one week to recover. I arranged the time off with my supervisor before scheduling the surgery, and she allowed me to use sick leave. Other than that, I did not miss any other days last year."