title: Examining factors associated with the length of short-term disability-free days among workers with previous short-term disability episodes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to examine the timing of short-term disability recurrence among workers who have previously experienced a short-term disability episode.
  
  
  METHODS
  The dataset comes from a Canadian resource sector company's 2003 to 2006 short-term disability leave and human resource datasets. The multi-year dataset consists of the records of 3593 employees who experienced at least on short-term disability episode between 2003 and 2006.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall 1-year disability-free rate was 72.1% ± 1.6%. About half of workers with previous disability episodes for mental/behavioral disorders were disability free for more than 800 days. In contrast, about 50% of workers with previous disability episodes for physical disorders were disability free for more than 1300 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest the majority of workers with previous short-term disability episodes for mental/behavioral disorders remain disability free for more than 2 years. However, the duration of disability free days for these workers is half that of other workers with previous episodes.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Employment and Workplace Health, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 455 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. carolyn_dewa@camh.net
authors.forename: Carolyn S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Dewa
authors.forename: Min-Chi
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chau
authors.forename: Stanley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dermer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012008:Recurrence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018582:Sick Leave; D013997:Time Factors