title: Employees sick-listed with mental disorders: who returns to work and when?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate return to work (RTW) in employees sick-listed with mental disorders classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sickness absences (SA) medically certified as emotional disturbance (ICD-10 R45) or mental and behavioral disorders (ICD-10 F00-F99) were retrieved from an occupational health service register. RTW was associated with age, gender, and socioeconomic position (SEP) by parametric survival analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Emotional, neurotic, somatoform, stress-related, and mood disorders encompassed 94 % of all mental SA. Employees with emotional disturbance had the highest RTW rates: after 1 year 95 % had resumed work and after 2 years 98 % compared to 89 and 96 % of employees with neurotic, somatoform and stress-related disorders, and 70 and 86 % of employees with mood disorders. The probability of RTW decreased after 1 month of SA due to emotional disturbance, 2 months of SA with neurotic, somatoform and stress-related disorders, and 3 months of SA with mood disorders. Women resumed their work later than men. Young employees presenting with emotional disturbance, neurotic, somatoform, and stress-related disorders had earlier RTW than older employees and low-SEP employees had earlier RTW than high-SEP employees.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RTW rates and probabilities differed across categories of mental disorders. Age and SEP were associated with RTW of employees with emotional, neurotic, somatoform, and stress-related disorders, but not with RTW of employees experiencing mood disorders. To maximize the likelihood of RTW, a focus on RTW is important in the first months after reporting sick with mental disorders.
authors.affiliation: 365 Occupational Health Service, PO Box 85091, 3508 AB, Utrecht, The Netherlands. corne.roelen@365.nl
authors.forename: C A M
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Roelen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Norder
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Koopmans
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van Rhenen
authors.forename: J J L
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van der Klink
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bültmann
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D018582:Sick Leave; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013995:Time; D055815:Young Adult