Sick-Leave due to Psychiatric Disorder: Higher Incidence among Women and Longer Duration for Men

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

BACKGROUND: Women take sick-leave more often than men, both in general and because of psychiatric disorders. The aim of the present study was to introduce the new dimension of sick-leave duration in the analysis of gender differences in minor psychiatric disorders. METHOD: A population-based register was used, which included all sick-leave spells exceeding seven consecutive days, 1985-1987, in a Swedish county. RESULTS: Sick-leave duration was longer for men. The greatest gender differences were found in the youngest and oldest age-groups. Women had higher incidence also in the longest spells. An increase in duration over the three years was found among women, leading to decreased gender differences. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to other studies on minor psychiatric disorders, small gender differences were found. It is suggested that sick-leave duration can be used as a quantitative measure of health-related working capacity.