Sick-leave certificates granted to psychiatric outpatients with major depression

We investigated to what extent and for what reasons depressive outpatients are given certificates for sick-leaves and whether there are particular factors associated with the given sick-leaves. Our retrospective case note study was based on 213 adult psychiatric outpatients with first-time documented DSM-III-R major depression. Several sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics were detected during the follow-up of 3 months' medical care. This information was related to official registers of granted sick-leave certificates with a follow-up time of 30 months for the study patients. Sick-leave certificates were granted to 61% of patients. The mean duration of time off work due to documented illness was 142 days. Eighty-seven percent of the total sum of sick-leave days was for depressive disorders. Living with someone else, being employed, and early recognition of the illness were associated with the granted sick-leaves.