Relationship Between Work Engagement and the Onset of Long-term Sickness Absence Due to Mental Disorders: A 4-year Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between work engagement and long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders such as mood disorders and anxiety, and whether the relationship differs between men and women, during a 4-year follow-up period. Data were obtained from 21,293 workers at four pharmaceutical companies belonging to the Collabo-Health Study Group in 2014. The baseline data were collected by self-administered questionnaires. We obtained information about long-term sickness absence from the personnel records of the surveyed companies from the baseline survey in 2014 until March 2018. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the low work engagement group as a reference were calculated by Cox proportional hazards analysis as the outcome, defined as the period leading to mental health-related sick leave. A total of 12,025 participants had complete data for analysis, and 123 exhibited long-term sickness absence during a 4-year follow-up period. The high work engagement group for men had a significantly lower HR (0.52, 95% CI: 0.31–0.88, P = 0.015) compared with the low work engagement group. Conversely, among women, the moderate work engagement group had a significantly higher HR (2.44, 95% CI: 1.03–5.84, P = 0.043) compared with the low work engagement group. Work engagement in men may predict the occurrence of long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders in the subsequent four years, but this relationship was different in women. Further research is needed to clarify this issue.