Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sickness absence for mental ill health in National Health Service staff

Plaat, Diana A van der; Edge, Rhiannon; Coggon, David; Tongeren, Martie van; Muiry, Rupert; Parsons, Vaughan; Cullinan, Paul; Madan, Ira

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054533

Cited by 16 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…However, the added workload and work-related stress during this period have been linked to elevated rates of burn-out, psychological problems and plans to quit. [1][2][3][4][5][6] These findings align with research from previous novel viral outbreaks, for example, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), finding increased psychological distress and burn-out among HCWs during a pandemic. 7 8 In contrast to other recent viral outbreaks, the countermeasures introduced to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic included comprehensive population-wide countermeasures, for example, strict quarantine and isolation requirements.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Healthcare workers (HCWs) have played a crucial role in the response effort during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the added workload and work-related stress during this period have been linked to elevated rates of burn-out, psychological problems and plans to quit 1–6. These findings align with research from previous novel viral outbreaks, for example, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), finding increased psychological distress and burn-out among HCWs during a pandemic 7 8…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers: a register-based observational study

et al. 2023

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ObjectivesTo assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers (HCWs) in primary and specialist care and examine its causes.MethodsUsing individual-level register data, we studied monthly proportions of sick leave (all-cause and not related to SARS-CoV-2 infection) from 2017 to February 2022 for all HCWs in primary (N=60 973) and specialist care (N=34 978) in Norway. First, we estimated the impact of the pandemic on sick leave, by comparing the sick leave rates during the pandemic to sick leave rates in 2017–2019. We then examined the impact of COVID-19-related workload on sick leave, by comparing HCWs working in healthcare facilities with different levels of COVID-19 patient loads.ResultsHCWs had elevated monthly rates of all-cause sick leave during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2.8 (95% CI 2.67 to 2.9) and 2.2 (95% CI 2.07 to 2.35) percentage points in primary and specialist care. The corresponding increases for sick leave not related to SARS-CoV-2 infection were 1.2 (95% CI 1.29 to 1.05) and 0.7 (95% CI 0.52 to 0.78) percentage points. All-cause sick leave was higher in areas with high versus low COVID-19 workloads. However, after removing sick leave episodes due to SARS-CoV-2 infections, there was no difference.ConclusionsThere was a substantial increase in sick leave among HCWs during the pandemic. Our results suggest that the increase was due to HCWs becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 and/or sector-wide effects, such as strict infection control measures. More differentiated countermeasures should, therefore, be evaluated to limit capacity constraints in healthcare provision.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers: a register-based observational study

et al. 2023

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“…Elevated levels of sick leave are of particular concern for industries contributing to crucial societal functions because these industries can only downscale their services to a limited extent. Although several studies have confirmed higher sick leave rates among people infected with SARS-CoV-2, this study is the first to assess the impact of the Omicron wave on all-cause sick leave across several industries using population-wide registers [5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Omicron on sick leave across industries: A population-wide study

Grøsland

Reme

Gjefsen

2022

Scand J Public Health

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Aims: To estimate the industry-specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Omicron wave) on sick leave. Methods: Using individual-level data from the Norwegian Emergency Preparedness Register, the study covers all workers in different industries ( N = 2,733,751 people) on a monthly level in the time periods January–March 2017–2020 (except March 2020) and 2022 (38,199,536 person-months). We estimated the industry-specific increase in monthly average sick leave during the Omicron wave in 2022 compared with the corresponding months in 2017–2020. Results: We found an average increase in monthly sick leave rates of 2.92 percentage points (95% CI 2.9–2.94) during the three first months of 2022. The increases were strongest within food and accommodation (4.42 percentage points increase, 95% CI 4.33–4.51) and administrative support services (3.94 percentage points increase, 95% CI 3.85–4.03). Conclusions: The Omicron wave resulted in a substantial increase in sick leave, which was unevenly distributed across industries. The results of this study highlight the importance of industry-specific contingency planning when facing the rapid spread of infectious diseases.

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“…Prolonged and frequent insomnia symptoms predict higher rates of sickness absence due to psychiatric disorders, and mild insomnia symptoms were reported by 53% irrespective of profession during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 6 – 8 ]. Healthcare personnel’s psychological distress and sickness absence has varied by pandemic phase and profession [ 1 , 9 ]. Therefore, we examine here changes in and correlates of healthcare workers’ mental health and sleep problems over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthcare workers’ heterogeneous mental-health responses to prolonging COVID-19 pandemic: a full year of monthly follow up in Finland

et al. 2022

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic strained healthcare workers but the individual challenges varied in relation to actual work and changes in work. We investigated changes in healthcare workers’ mental health under prolonging COVID-19 pandemic conditions, and heterogeneity in the mental-health trajectories. Methods A monthly survey over a full year was conducted for employees of the HUS Helsinki University Hospital (n = 4804) between 4th June 2020 to 28th May 2021. Pandemic-related potentially traumatic events (PTEs), work characteristics (e.g., contact to COVID-19 patients), local COVID-19 incidence, and demographic covariates were used to predict Mental Health Index-5 (MHI-5) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) in generalized multilevel and latent-class mixed model regressions. Results Local COVID-19 log-incidence (odds ratio, OR = 1.21, with 95% CI = 1.10–1.60), directly caring for COVID-19 patients (OR = 1.33, CI = 1.10–1.60) and PTEs (OR = 4.57, CI = 3.85–5.43) were all independently associated with psychological distress, when (additionally) adjusting for age, sex, profession, and calendar time. Effects of COVID-19 incidence on mental health were dissociable from calendar time (i.e., evolved in time) whereas those on sleep were not. Latent mental-health trajectories were characterized by a large class of “stable mental health” (62% of employees) and minority classes for “early shock, improving” (14%) and “early resilience, deteriorating” mental health (24%). The minority classes, especially “early shock, improving”, were more likely to live alone and be exposed to PTEs than the others. Conclusions Healthcare workers faced changing and heterogeneous mental-health challenges as the COVID-19 pandemic prolonged. Adversity and mental ill-being may have accumulated in some employees, and factors like living arrangements may have played a role. Knowledge on employees’ demographic and socioeconomic background, as well as further research on the factors affecting employees’ resilience, may help in maintaining healthy and efficient workforce in the face of a prolonging pandemic.

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Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sickness absence for mental ill health in National Health Service staff

Cited by 16 publications

References 7 publications

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers: a register-based observational study

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sick leave among healthcare workers: a register-based observational study

Impact of Omicron on sick leave across industries: A population-wide study

Healthcare workers’ heterogeneous mental-health responses to prolonging COVID-19 pandemic: a full year of monthly follow up in Finland

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