Sickness absence related to early death

A rather grim, yet interesting article on the subject of long-term absence appeared on the BBC News website the other day.

The study identified a ling between absence from work on psychiatric grounds and premature death!

It was found that:

"...30 per cent of people who had one or more stints of at least seven days off work had a 66 per cent increased risk of premature death compared to those who had not had any long periods of sick leave".

The study was based on 6,500 civil servants, and sickness records were assessed from London-based employees in 20 Whitehall departments between 1985 and 1988 and compared with mortality up until 2004.

To see the BBC News article click here.

The original study - Diagnosis-specific sickness absence as a predictor of mortality: the Whitehall II prospective cohort study by Jenny Head, Jane E Ferrie, Kristina Alexanderson, Hugo Westerlund, Jussi Vahtera, and Mika Kivimäki - can be downloaded for free here.