Depression in the workplace: effects on short-term disability.
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.
Kessler
R C
RC
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, USA.
Barber
C
C
Birnbaum
H G
HG
Frank
R G
RG
Greenberg
P E
PE
Rose
R M
RM
Simon
G E
GE
Wang
P
P
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