Work incapacity among family caregivers: a record linkage study

Abstract

BackgroundFamily caregiving-related physical and mental health problems may lead to work incapacity in employed caregivers. The aim of this study was to quantify sickness absences and disability pensions (SADP) among high-intensity family caregivers available to the labour market compared with a control population.MethodsThe study sample included all individuals in Finland, who had received caregiver’s allowance and were available to the labour market in 2012 (n=16 982) and their controls (n=35 371). Information on the number of sickness absence (spells >10 days) and disability pension (SADP) days and related diagnoses according to ICD-10 were obtained from national registers for the years 2012–2017. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, occupational status, education, income and degree of urbanisation.ResultsDuring the follow-up, 40.9% of caregivers and 39.5% of controls had at least one sickness absence spell and 6.1% and 4.7%, respectively, received disability pension. The mean annual number of SADP days was 23.2 (95% CI 22.3 to 24.1) for caregivers and 18.5 (95% CI 18.0 to 19.0) for controls (adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR)=1.16, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.22). The number of annual SADP days due to mental disorders was higher in caregivers (7.2, 95% CI 6.7 to 7.8) than controls (4.0, 95% CI 3.8 to 4.3; adjusted IRR 1.58, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.75). There were no differences in SADP days due to cancer, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, or musculoskeletal diseases, or external causes.DiscussionHigher number of SADP days due to mental disorders in caregivers suggests that family caregiving has an adverse effect on work capacity and that caregivers are at increased risk for mental disorders.

Maintaining a Sustainable Work–Life Balance

“…In the near term, even more workers are expected to be involved in informal caregiving due to the ageing population and increasing staff shortages in professional healthcare (Zigante, 2018). The need to combine work and informal caregiving can give rise to workcare conflict and, in turn, to sick leave or mental health issues such as stress and depression (Joling et al, 2018;Josten et al, 2022;Mikkola et al, 2022). From a societal perspective, this is undesirable because continued participation in both paid work and informal care are crucial.…”

Informal Caregiving Provision for Disabled or Elderly in the Families and Work Productivity: Evidence from 11 Waves of an Australian Population-Based Cohort

“…In 2018, one in ten Australians provided informal care, representing 2.65 million people [ 3 ]. Informal caregiving has known adverse effects on the health of carers, leads to high rates of depression and anxiety, and causes emotional and physical strain as well as stress [ 4 , 5 ]. Policies to support informal caregivers in many OECD countries have included the provision of paid or unpaid care leave, cash benefits, cash-for-care allowances for recipients, periods of paid leave for informal carers and counselling/training services [ 2 , 6 ].…”