RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Impact of depressive symptoms on worklife expectancy: a longitudinal study on Danish employees
JF Occupational and Environmental Medicine
JO Occup Environ Med
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 838
OP 844
DO 10.1136/oemed-2019-105961
VO 76
IS 11
A1 Jacob Pedersen
A1 Sannie Vester Thorsen
A1 Malene Friis Andersen
A1 Therese N Hanvold
A1 Vivi Schlünssen
A1 Ute Bültmann
YR 2019
UL http://oem.bmj.com/content/76/11/838.abstract
AB Objective Depressive symptoms are associated with sickness absence, work disability and unemployment, but little is known about worklife expectancy (WLE). This study investigates the impact of depressive symptoms on the WLE of a large sample of Danish employees.Methods We used occupational health survey data of 11 967 Danish employees from 2010 and linked them with register data on salary and transfer payments from 2010 to 2015. Depressive symptoms were self-reported using the Major Depression Inventory. We used multistate data and a life table approach with Cox proportional hazard modelling to estimate the WLE of employees, expressed by time in work, unemployment and sickness absence. Separate analyses were conducted for sex and employees with a voluntary early retirement pension scheme. Using age as time axis, we used inverse probability weights to account for differences in educational level, sector, body mass index, smoking habits and loss of employment during sickness absence.Results The WLE of employees reporting depressive symptoms was shorter compared with those not reporting depressive symptoms; that is, the expected time in unemployment and sickness absence was longer, while the expected time in work was shorter. The shorter WLE was most pronounced in women; for example, a 40-year-old woman with depressive symptoms can expect 3.3 years less in work, 0.8 years more in unemployment and 0.7 years more in sickness absence. Employees with a voluntary early retirement pension scheme showed an even lower WLE.Conclusions Our study showed a meaningful impact of depressive symptoms on the WLE of Danish employees using a multistate framework.