title: Depression in the workplace: effects on short-term disability.
abstract: We analyzed data from two national surveys to estimate the short-term work disability associated with thirty-day major depression. Depressed workers were found to have between 1.5 and 3.2 more short-term work-disability days in a thirty-day period than other workers had, with a salary-equivalent productivity loss averaging between $182 and $395. These workplace costs are nearly as large as the direct costs of successful depression treatment, which suggests that encouraging depressed workers to obtain treatment might be cost-effective for some employers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Birnbaum
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003363:Cost Control / Q000639:trends; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000191:economics; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D019989:Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States