Predictors of recurrent sickness absence among workers having returned to work after sickness absence due to common mental disorders

Abstract

Predictors of recurrent sickness absence among workers having returned to work after sickness absence due to common mental disorders by Arends I, van der Klink JJL, van Rhenen W, de Boer MR, Bültmann U A broad range of possible predictors of recurrent sickness absence (SA) among workers with common mental disorders (CMD) is investigated over 12 months follow-up. The results show that work-related factors, especially conflicts with supervisor and company size >100 employees, rather than disease-related factors predict recurrent SA among workers who returned to work after SA due to CMD. Affiliation 195Original article Scand J Work Environ Health. 2014;40(2):195-202 doi:10.5271/sjweh.3384 Predictors of recurrent sickness absence among workers having returned to work after sickness absence due to common mental disorders Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether sociodemographic, disease-related, personal, and work-related factors -measured at baseline -are predictors of recurrent sickness absence (SA) at 6 and 12 months follow-up among workers who returned to work after SA due to common mental disorders (CMD).Methods Based on a cluster-randomized controlled trial, this prospective study comprised 158 participants, aged 18-63 years, with partial or full return to work (RTW) and an occupational physician-diagnosed CMD. Data on predictors were collected with questionnaires and administrative data. Outcome was the incidence of recurrent SA (ie, decreased work for ≥30% of contract hours due to all-cause SA regardless of partial or full RTW) at 6 and 12 months follow-up. Longitudinal logistic regression analysis with backward elimination was used.Results We found that company size >100 [odds ratio (OR) 2.59, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1. 40-4.80] and conflicts with the supervisor (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.21-4.04) were predictive of recurrent SA. Having ≥1 chronic diseases decreased the risk of recurrent SA (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.30-0.96).Conclusions Two work-and one disease-related factor predicted the incidence of recurrent SA among workers with CMD. Healthcare providers can use these findings to detect and help workers who have returned to work and are at higher risk for recurrent SA. Furthermore, future interventions to prevent recurrent SA could focus on supervisor conflicts.Key terms mental health problem; prognostic factor; prospective study; return to work; RTW; sustainable return to work.

Predictors of impaired work functioning in employees with major depression in remission

“…This holds in particular for MDD, because of its long-term course with different levels of residual or subclinical symptoms, a high rate of recurrence (ten Doesschate et al, 2010;Hardeveld et al, 2010) and sickness absence Endo et al (2012). However, studies focusing on these outcomes are scarce (Hees et al, 2013(Hees et al, , 2012Virtanen et al, 2011;Arends et al, 2014). Moreover, previous studies on the relationship between depression and work functioning did not distinguish between patients with MDD and patients with MDD in remission, or only focused on specific category of predictors (e.g.…”

Chronic diseases are strongly associated with sickness absences in a sample of Italian public employees

“…The mean age was significantly higher in subjects with at least one chronic disease than in those without (49±7.5 vs. 44±8.1 years; p < 0.01). Conversely, job seniority was similar between employees affected and not affected by chronic conditions (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23) vs. 19 (IQR 11-26) years; p = 0.1).…”

“…Furthermore, most of the previous investigations addressed the effect of a single chronic disease on sickness absence [21][22][23]. In a prospective cluster-randomized controlled trial of 158 subjects, Arends et al [23] focused on workers with psychiatric disorders, demonstrating that medication, company size, and conflicts with supervisor predicted the incidence of recurrent sickness absence. By contrast, surveys exploring the total burden of chronic diseases on sickness absence are less common.…”

Relationship between sickness presenteeism and awareness and presence or absence of systems for return to work among workers with mental health problems in Japan: an Internet‐based cross‐sectional study

“…This suggests that the duration of financial compensation plays an important role in relation to sickness presenteeism. Arends et al reported that the incidence of relapse of mental illness became greater as the size of company increased 25) , and Rost et al reported that the economic impact of a loss in productivity varies according to company size 26) . In the present study, no relationship was observed between sickness presenteeism and company size.…”