Mental disorders account for about a third of all sick days, roughly equal to those caused by back pain, according to the most comprehensive report yet on the effect of illness on disability.
Adult Americans with depression, anxiety or other psychological disorder annually miss 1.3 billion days of work, school or other daily activity, according to a report published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Back and neck pain cause sufferers to miss 1.2 billion days.
Mental disorders had a bigger effect than expected, yet they often are left unrecognized and untreated.
“If we treated the mental disorders, we could wipe out a lot of the impairment,” said senior author Ronald C. Kessler, a professor of health-care policy at Harvard Medical School.
“It is ironic we spend the least on musculoskeletal disorders and depression when they have the most impact on people’s lives and disability,” lead author Kathleen Merikangas, an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Mental Health, said.
The study was based on the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationwide survey of 9,282 people over age 18 that was sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health.
Participants reported the number of days they had been completely unable to work or carry out normal activities within the previous month.
Among mental disorders, depression accounted for the most sick days, at 387 million.
