Age-, sex-, and diagnosis-specific incidence rate of medically certified long-term sick leave among private sector employees: The Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health (J-ECOH) study

Abstract

BackgroundLong-term sick-leave is a major public health problem, but data on its incidence in Japan are scarce. We aimed to present reference data for long-term sick-leave among private sector employees in Japan.MethodsThe study population comprised employees of 12 companies that participated in the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study. Details on medically certified sick-leave lasting ≥30 days were collected from each company. Age- and sex-specific incidence rate of sick-leave was calculated for the period of April 2012 to March 2014.ResultsA total of 1422 spells in men and 289 in women occurred during 162,989 and 30,645 person-years of observation, respectively. The three leading causes of sick-leave (percentage of total spells) were mental disorders (52%), neoplasms (12%), and injury (8%) for men; and mental disorders (35%), neoplasms (20%), and pregnancy-related disease (14%) for women. Incidence rate of sick-leave due to mental disorders was relatively high among men in their 20s–40s but tended to decrease with age among women. Incidence rate of sick-leave due to neoplasms started to increase after age 50 in men and after age 40 in women, making neoplasms the leading cause of sick-leave after age 50 for women and after age 60 for men and the second leading cause after age 40 for women and after age 50 for men. Pregnancy-related disease was the second leading cause of sick-leave among women aged 20–39 years.ConclusionsThese results suggest that mental disorder, neoplasms, and pregnancy-related disease are the major causes of long-term sick-leave among private sector employees in Japan.

Loss of Working Life Years Due to Mortality, Sickness Absence, or Ill-health Retirement: A Comprehensive Approach to Estimating Disease Burden in the Workplace

“…younger males is in line with prior reports [16,18,21], and the opposite trend among the older age group is likely due to a disproportionate survival effect among female vs. male employees.…”

“…For example, employees at the participating companies can use paid sick; they are paid over two-thirds of their salary for the maximum length of 2.5 -3.9 years. Details of the cohort are available elsewhere [16].…”

Prospective Study on the Association Between Adherence to Healthy Lifestyles and Depressive Symptoms Among Japanese Employees: The Furukawa Nutrition and Health Study

“…24 Therefore, it is important to investigate the association in this particular population. Third, evidence on this subject is scarce in working populations; depression is the leading cause of sick-leave among working populations in Japan 25 and other developed countries. 26,27 To address these issues, we aimed to examine the prospective association of the HLI, which is composed of seven modifiable lifestyle factors (including body mass index [BMI], leisure-time physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, vegetable intake, fruit intake, and sleep duration), with depressive symptoms in a Japanese working population.…”

Relationship between treatment and period of absence among employees on sick leave due to mental disease

“…Mental health diseases are an important cause of long-term sick leave. A multi-center occupational cohort study in Japan showed that mental illness was the most common reason for men aged 20–59 yr and women aged 20–49 yr to take sick leave for 30 d or more3 ) . Additionally, a cohort study in Sweden showed that more than 90 d of absenteeism due to psychiatric disorders affects all-cause and cause-specific mortality4 ) .…”