Introduction Many individuals with long-term work-related stress complain that cognitive limitations impede their vocational functioning. Subjective cognitive complaints, however, may not accurately reflect objective cognitive impairment.

Objectives We aimed to evaluate objective and subjective tools for screening of neurocognitive impairment and assess cognitive functioning as a determinant for subsequent work status among patients with work-related stress.

Methods 82 patients with work-related stress participated in a 1½-hour assessment of demographics, objective and subjective cognitive status, and psychosocial functioning. Objective measures included the Screen for Cognitive impairment in Psychiatry, Danish version, (SCIP-D) comprising five cognitive subtests (administration <20 min.) and standardized neuropsychological tests that tapped into the same cognitive domains. Subjective cognitive impairment was assessed with the Cognitive Failure Questionnaire. Work status was evaluated by telephone 6 months later. A total of 78 patients were matched to pre-existing norm data from 79 healthy controls using bootstrapping with 1000 resamples according to age, sex, and estimated premorbid intelligence (N=78000).

Results Strong correlations with all standardized neuropsychological tests indicated the concurrent validity of the SCIP-D (Total Score: r = 0.76, p ). There was no correlation between objective and subjective measures of cognitive status (Pearson’s r0.30). Based on logistic Receiver-Operating-Characteristic analysis, the optimal SCIP-D Total-score cut-off was ≤72, which identified 43.2% of the patients with global objective cognitive impairment (AUC=0.84, 95% CI=0.76–0.93, Sensitivity=0.77, Specificity=0.73). Each one-unit increase in the objective SCIP-D Total score (mean = 74.2, SD = 9.7) was associated with a higher odds ratio of 1.12 (adjusted 95% CI=1.004–1.253) for employment at 6-month follow-up relative to full time sick-leave. Subjective cognitive impairment was not associated with subsequent work status.

Conclusion The SCIP-D was a valid objective cognitive screener predicting employment 6 months later among patients with work-related stress. The SCIP-D offers brief assessment of performance-based cognitive skills for use in occupational clinics and epidemiological research.