Association of Sickness Absence With Severe Psychiatric Outcomes in a Brazilian Health Workforce.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association of sickness absence with severe psychiatric outcomes in the workforce of a health institution. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis included 16,890 employees from a health institution. The association of all-cause sick-leave spells and mental sick-leave spells with a composite outcome (psychiatric hospital admission and/or suicidality) was investigated with logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, education, and job position. RESULTS: There were 18,855 sick-leave spells among 6428 employees and 8.2% were mental sick-leaves. All-cause sick-leave was associated with the composite outcome (OR = 6.81; 95% CI = 2.99-15.52). This association was driven by mental-sick leave (OR = 100.52; 95% CI = 41.26-244.91), and the odds were higher among men. CONCLUSION: Health promotion interventions on workers with mental sick-leave should be implemented to minimize the impact of mental disorders in this high-risk group.