Research Plus

Chronic pain and depression increase absence risk

Individuals suffering chronic pain alongside depression have a three-fold increased risk of sickness absence, research from the Canadian Community Health Survey reveals. Significant associations with absence were observed for fibromyalgia, back problems and migraine. Individuals with chronic pain who also reported a major depressive episode in the previous 12 months were 2.9- times more likely to be absent than their non-depressed counterparts. Female gender did not increase the risk despite the fact that more women than men experience co-morbid chronic pain and depression.

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2007; 49(11): 1206–1211. 

Tags absence depression evidence based practice sickness absence

Occupational Health at Work February/March 2008 (vol. 04/5) pp36-37