Determinanten van werkhervatting en verzuimduur bij werknemers met psychische klachten*

Objective

To examine the associations between sociodemographic, medical, work-related and organisational factors and the moment of first return to work by employees as well as the total duration of sick leave resulting from common mental disorders.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Method

Data for the study were derived from Laboretum, a Dutch database containing reference data for sick leave duration for various medical conditions. The cases used for this study were registered from May 2004-December 2005; these had been entered into the database by specially trained occupational health physicians according to their assessments of various medical and other factors. Odds ratios for first return to work and sick leave durations were calculated in logistic regression models.

Results

Burnout, depression and anxiety disorders were associated with longer sick leave durations. Similar but weaker associations were found for being of the female sex; also working as a teacher or at a small company and exposure to moderate to high levels of psychosocial taxation. Distress was associated with shorter sick leave duration. The medical diagnosis, degree of work-related psychosocial burden and company size were also associated with first return to work. Part-time employment was related to delays in first returning to work. The intensity of associations varied for the different factors and for different sick leave durations.

Conclusion

The medical diagnosis was strongly related to the moment of first return to work by persons with mental disorders as well as the total duration of sick leave, but there was also some connection with demographic and work-related factors, especially in sick leave of a longer duration.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: none declared.