<p><b>Background:</b> Few studies have systematically compared the relationship between lost work productivity (work impairment) and mental disorders using population surveys.</p><p><b>Aims:</b> (1) To identify the importance of individual mental disorders and disorder co-occurrences (comorbidity) as predictors of two measures of work impairment over the past month—work loss (number of days unable to perform usual activities) and work cutback (number of days where usual activities were restricted); (2) to examine whether different types of disorder have a greater impact on work impairment in some occupations than others; (3) to determine whether work impairment in those with a disorder is related to treatment seeking.</p><p><b>Method:</b> Data were based on full-time workers identified by the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being, a household survey of mental disorders modeled on the US National Comorbidity Survey. Diagnoses were of one-month DSM-IV affective, anxiety and substance-related disorders. Screening instruments generated likely cases of ICD-10 personality disorders. The association of disorder types and their co-occurrences with work impairment was examined using multivariate linear regression. Odds ratios determined the significance of mental disorder prevalence across occupations, and planned contrasts were used to test for differences in work impairment across occupations within disorder types. The relationship between work impairment and treatment seeking was determined for each broad diagnostic group with <i>t</i>-tests.</p><p><b>Results:</b> Depression, generalized anxiety disorder and personality disorders were predictive of work impairment after controlling for impairment due to physical disorders. Among pure and comorbid disorders, affective and comorbid anxiety–affective disorders respectively were associated with the greatest amount of work impairment. For all disorders, stronger associations were obtained for work cutback than for work loss. No relationship was found between type of occupation and the impact of different types of disorder on work impairment. Only 15% of people with any mental disorder had sought help in the past month. For any mental disorder, significantly greater work loss and work cutback was associated with treatment seeking, but comparisons within specific disorder types were not significant.</p><p><b>Discussion:</b> A substantial amount of lost productivity due to mental disorders comes from within the full-time working population. The greater impact of mental disorders on work cutback compared to work loss suggests that work cutback provides a more sensitive measure of work impairment in those with mental disorders. Work impairment was based on self-report only. While there is evidence for the reliability of self-assessed work loss days, no reliability or validity studies have been conducted for work cutback days. The low rates of treatment seeking are a major health issue for th
{"title":"Lost productivity among full-time workers with mental disorders","authors":"Debbie Lim, Kristy Sanderson, Gavin Andrews","doi":"10.1002/mhp.93","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mhp.93","url":null,"abstract":"<p><b>Background:</b> Few studies have systematically compared the relationship between lost work productivity (work impairment) and mental disorders using population surveys.</p><p><b>Aims:</b> (1) To identify the importance of individual mental disorders and disorder co-occurrences (comorbidity) as predictors of two measures of work impairment over the past month—work loss (number of days unable to perform usual activities) and work cutback (number of days where usual activities were restricted); (2) to examine whether different types of disorder have a greater impact on work impairment in some occupations than others; (3) to determine whether work impairment in those with a disorder is related to treatment seeking.</p><p><b>Method:</b> Data were based on full-time workers identified by the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being, a household survey of mental disorders modeled on the US National Comorbidity Survey. Diagnoses were of one-month DSM-IV affective, anxiety and substance-related disorders. Screening instruments generated likely cases of ICD-10 personality disorders. The association of disorder types and their co-occurrences with work impairment was examined using multivariate linear regression. Odds ratios determined the significance of mental disorder prevalence across occupations, and planned contrasts were used to test for differences in work impairment across occupations within disorder types. The relationship between work impairment and treatment seeking was determined for each broad diagnostic group with <i>t</i>-tests.</p><p><b>Results:</b> Depression, generalized anxiety disorder and personality disorders were predictive of work impairment after controlling for impairment due to physical disorders. Among pure and comorbid disorders, affective and comorbid anxiety–affective disorders respectively were associated with the greatest amount of work impairment. For all disorders, stronger associations were obtained for work cutback than for work loss. No relationship was found between type of occupation and the impact of different types of disorder on work impairment. Only 15% of people with any mental disorder had sought help in the past month. For any mental disorder, significantly greater work loss and work cutback was associated with treatment seeking, but comparisons within specific disorder types were not significant.</p><p><b>Discussion:</b> A substantial amount of lost productivity due to mental disorders comes from within the full-time working population. The greater impact of mental disorders on work cutback compared to work loss suggests that work cutback provides a more sensitive measure of work impairment in those with mental disorders. Work impairment was based on self-report only. While there is evidence for the reliability of self-assessed work loss days, no reliability or validity studies have been conducted for work cutback days. The low rates of treatment seeking are a major health issue for th","PeriodicalId":46381,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics","volume":"3 3","pages":"139-146"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2001-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1002/mhp.93","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72169216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BACKGROUND: The 1990's witnessed a new wave of state and federal legislation affecting mental health insurance in the United States. Although patient advocacy groups have hailed the passage of numerous "parity" laws that require insurance coverage for mental illnesses to equal that for physical ailments, it is unclear whether this activity represents a major improvement in insurance benefits among mentally ill or significantly increases their access to care. AIMS: This paper contrasts how insurance coverage has changed among individuals with mental health problems in states with and without parity legislation. METHODS: National survey data from 1996 to 1998, subset to a panel of 1220 individuals exceeding clinical screeners for a mental health disorder. Dependent variables are change in insurance status, insurance generosity and perception of access to care. The analysis contrasts changes in dependent variables between states with and without parity legislation (a difference-in-differences analysis). RESULTS: There are no statistical significant effects of state parity; point estimates suggest that parity mandates are associated with a slightly higher number of mentally ill reporting improved insurance generosity and access to care, but also with a higher number of mentally ill losing all insurance coverage in parity states. The estimated effects are too small to be statistically significant, although the sample size is limited and the study had only good statistical power to detect large effects. DISCUSSION: At the population level, state parity legislation appears to have not had large effects on the insurance coverage of the group that was intended as the primary beneficiary of legislation. Likely reasons include the limited scope of the actual legal requirements and large numbers of mentally ill that are not covered by health insurance subject to such legislation. The results do not exclude the possibility that some subgroups experienced substantial improvements in their insurance coverage. At the population level, large effects experienced by small subgroup are diluted by groups that experienced no similar changes. However, parity legislation was not considered a minor issue by advocates and opponents and this analysis has the statistical power to detect the sizeable differences that were argued in the policy debate. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES: While state parity legislation may have improved insurance benefits for some, it appears not to have resulted in substantial improvements for the mentally ill as a whole. The results could be very different, however, if strong federal legislation were passed that has a broader scope than state legislation. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: The parity debate provides an important reminder of how little research is available to inform policy. This study provides a crude picture, but it is far from being a conclusive evaluation. The most urgent need is for data that continue to track changes in markets an
{"title":"State parity legislation and changes in health insurance and perceived access to care among individuals with mental illness: 1996–1998","authors":"R. Sturm","doi":"10.1002/MHP.97","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/MHP.97","url":null,"abstract":"BACKGROUND: The 1990's witnessed a new wave of state and federal legislation affecting mental health insurance in the United States. Although patient advocacy groups have hailed the passage of numerous \"parity\" laws that require insurance coverage for mental illnesses to equal that for physical ailments, it is unclear whether this activity represents a major improvement in insurance benefits among mentally ill or significantly increases their access to care. AIMS: This paper contrasts how insurance coverage has changed among individuals with mental health problems in states with and without parity legislation. METHODS: National survey data from 1996 to 1998, subset to a panel of 1220 individuals exceeding clinical screeners for a mental health disorder. Dependent variables are change in insurance status, insurance generosity and perception of access to care. The analysis contrasts changes in dependent variables between states with and without parity legislation (a difference-in-differences analysis). RESULTS: There are no statistical significant effects of state parity; point estimates suggest that parity mandates are associated with a slightly higher number of mentally ill reporting improved insurance generosity and access to care, but also with a higher number of mentally ill losing all insurance coverage in parity states. The estimated effects are too small to be statistically significant, although the sample size is limited and the study had only good statistical power to detect large effects. DISCUSSION: At the population level, state parity legislation appears to have not had large effects on the insurance coverage of the group that was intended as the primary beneficiary of legislation. Likely reasons include the limited scope of the actual legal requirements and large numbers of mentally ill that are not covered by health insurance subject to such legislation. The results do not exclude the possibility that some subgroups experienced substantial improvements in their insurance coverage. At the population level, large effects experienced by small subgroup are diluted by groups that experienced no similar changes. However, parity legislation was not considered a minor issue by advocates and opponents and this analysis has the statistical power to detect the sizeable differences that were argued in the policy debate. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES: While state parity legislation may have improved insurance benefits for some, it appears not to have resulted in substantial improvements for the mentally ill as a whole. The results could be very different, however, if strong federal legislation were passed that has a broader scope than state legislation. IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH: The parity debate provides an important reminder of how little research is available to inform policy. This study provides a crude picture, but it is far from being a conclusive evaluation. The most urgent need is for data that continue to track changes in markets an","PeriodicalId":46381,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics","volume":"1 1","pages":"209-213"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2000-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80401395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}