title: Health in women on long-term sick leave because of pain or mental illness.
abstract: Mental illness and pain are common causes of long-term sick absence and major difficulties in vocational rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to investigate health in a group of women with pain or mental illness who had exhausted their days of sickness benefit. This cross-sectional study uses baseline data from 355 women on long-term sick leave participating in controlled intervention studies aiming at returning to work. The study population filled in a written questionnaire with questions of self-rated health and sleep quality and validated indexes of mental health, satisfaction with life and general self-efficacy. Clinical psychiatric screening was performed on 230 individuals. The study population had a mean age of 48.8 years (SD 8.4), with an average time on sick leave of 7.8 years (SD 3.2). Self-rated health and sleep quality was poor compared with other populations. In all, 80.1% had at least one psychiatric diagnosis according to the psychiatric screening, and the average numbers of psychiatric diagnoses were 2.2 (SD 1.9). Foreign-born women showed significantly higher levels of mental illness, poorer self-rated health and sleep quality and lower self-efficacy and life satisfaction than native Swedish women. Women with long sick leave because of mental illness and/or pain have poor self-rated health and sleep quality, high prevalence of mental illness and low self-efficacy and life satisfaction. Psychiatric screening suggests more extensive mental illness than what was stated on the sick leave certificates. The health of foreign-born women seems to be worse than that of native Swedish women.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University bArbets Rehab, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala cDepartment of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lytsy
authors.forename: Kjerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Anderzén
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D057566:Self Report; D018582:Sick Leave; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014478:Unemployment