BMJ  2005;330:802-803 (9 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7495.802

Editorial

Long term sickness absence

Is caused by common conditions and needs managing

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Sickness absence is a major public health and economic problem. In 2003, 176 million working days were lost; up 10 million on the previous year.¹ Each week 1 million people report sick, 3000 of whom will still be away from work at six months.² Only 20% of people receiving incapacity benefit for more than six months will return to work in the following five years.³ The costs are enormous. Each year, £13bn ($25bn; 19bn) are spent on benefits such as incapacity benefit, and the cost to industry is at least £11bn.⁴ Long term sickness absence contributes disproportionately to these figures. Although they constitute only a small fraction of absence episodes, longer absences comprise more than a third of total days lost and up to 75% of absence costs.^{1 2} Longer absences are associated with a reduced probability of eventual return to work and subsequent economic and social deprivation.

The government . . . [Full text of this article]

Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Psychological Medicine, Weston Education Centre, London SE5 9RJ (m.henderson@iop.kcl.ac.uk)

Department of Occupational Health and Safety, King's College Hospital NHS Trust, London SE5 9RS

Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH

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Rapid Responses:

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