Much more missing days due to mental illness

Sick leave: more workers are absent in the workplace due to mental illness

08/13/2012

More and more people are on sick leave due to mental suffering. In the first half of this year, a study of the company health insurance funds (BKK) recorded a rapid increase in absenteeism on mental illnesses such as depression.

From January to June 2012, the monthly average sickness rate stood at 4.4 percent. The inability to work in the first half of 2012 is characterized particularly by the 8 percent increase in sick days for the mentally ill. In the first quarter, it was even 12 percent up on the same period last year. By contrast, respiratory illness declined by 11 percent in the first quarter of 2012. A flu epidemic as in the previous year was therefore missing. This is evident from the monthly sick leave statistics of the BKK Bundesverband.

Sick leave 2011 as high as 13 years ago
After the record low of only 12.4 sick days in 2006 (sick leave of 3.4 percent), only five years later the compulsorily insured employees have already been on sick leave for 16 days (sick leave of 4.4 percent in 2011). Thus, the sick leave is as high as in 1999. If the unemployed are also included in the analysis, the average in 2011 even amounts to 16.3 days.

The BKK Bundesverband collects and analyzes the health findings of every fifth employee subject to social security contributions in Germany; in 2011 this was 5.5 out of 28 million. The BKK analyzes are therefore a good reflection of the disease in the workplace.

Most common types of illness - mental illness for the third time in third place
Musculoskeletal disorders (especially back pain) account for the largest number of sick days, 26.3 percent of those employed, followed by respiratory illnesses (14.4 percent). For the first time, mental illnesses ranked third in third place, with 13.2 percent of all sick days, ahead of injuries at 13.0 percent.

Mental suffering - longest disease duration, increase in men over 20 percentt
The years of continuous increase in absenteeism due to mental disorders continues: they now cause every eighth day of illness. While the employees were still sick for 178 days in the previous year, in 2011 there are already 213 days per 100 employed members. That's the highest percentage in over 30 years of health coverage. In 1976, their share was only two percent of all illnesses. Sickness due to mental illness lasts the longest on average with 37 days. The incapacity days for mental illness among men rose by more than 20 percent in 2011 compared with the previous year, more than women's by 18 percent.

The reasons for the continuous increase in sick days are manifold. Not only the entire population but also the workforce has gotten older. In recent years, the average age of the working population has increased by about two and a half years: from an average of 38.8 years in 1991 to 41.3 years in 2011.

Number of long-term cases increased significantly
If an average incapacity for work lasts 13 calendar days, the case periods for mental illness are 37 days. Malignant tumors have similar absences (36 days per case). AU by musculoskeletal disorders, such. Back disorders, on average, only takes 20 days per case. The increase in lengthy illnesses has a significant impact on sick leave: long-term cases with more than six weeks of illness now account for 47 percent of all sick days (compared with 42 percent in 2010), even though they represent only 4 percent of the total. (sb, bkk)