Let's get back to work: survival analysis on the return-to-work after depression

Area of Science:

• Occupational health
• Psychiatry
• Health economics

Background:

• Work absence due to mental disorders, particularly Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), is a significant issue.
• Long-term work absence is linked to decreased return-to-work (RTW) probabilities.
• Predicting RTW early in MDD cases is crucial for intervention and monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the predictive value of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and depression severity on RTW.
• To assess the added value of HRQoL and depression severity in predicting time to RTW for MDD patients.

Main Methods:

• Prospective longitudinal study involving sick-listed workers with MDD.
• Data collection included demographics, job-related factors, and health status.
• Depression severity measured by PHQ-9; HRQoL by EQ-5D™ and SF-36. Survival analysis used to predict RTW.

Main Results:

• Factors prolonging RTW: female gender, older age, full-time employment, and greater decision latitude.
• Factors shortening RTW: management positions and higher social support.
• Depression severity (PHQ-9) was not a significant RTW predictor; SF-36 HRQoL was a significant predictor.

Conclusions:

• Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), specifically measured by the SF-36, is a significant predictor of RTW.
• Depression severity alone is not predictive of RTW in this cohort.
• Assessing HRQoL is important for evaluating patient functionality and predicting RTW outcomes in MDD.