Observational studyBMJ open2021
Sick leave and return to work for patients with anxiety and depression: a longitudinal study of trajectories before, during and after work-focused treatment.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Return to Work Trajectories of Swedish Employees on Sick-Leave Due to Common Mental Disorders.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Trial
- Predictors of Return to Work for People with Anxiety or Depression Participating in a Randomized Trial Investigating the Effect of a Supported Employment Intervention.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2023Trial
- Natural Language Response Formats for Assessing Depression and Worry With Large Language Models: A Sequential Evaluation With Model Pre-Registration.Assessment · 2026Article
- Changes in quality of life and work status after surgical management of meralgia paresthetica- an observational cohort study.Brain & spine · 2026Article
- Workplace gender composition and long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders: A retrospective cohort study.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
- Sickness absence trajectories among young and early midlife employees with psychological distress: the contributions of social and health-related factors in a longitudinal register linkage study.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2025Article
- Responsiveness to change in health status of the EQ-5D in patients treated for depression and anxiety.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2023Observational
- Effects of treatment contents on changes in resilience among workers with mood or anxiety disorders: A 3-month longitudinal study.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2023Article
- Work after mental-health-related absence: a qualitative study of perceived change after a combination of metacognitive therapy and work-focused interventions.BMC public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSick leave due to anxiety and depression is a heterogeneous process constituting a pressing public health issue. This longitudinal study aimed to identify sick leave trajectories among patients before, during and after work-focused treatment, in all 29.5 months. We then aimed to determine the background and clinical characteristics of these trajectory groups.
methodsBackground and clinical data were collected by patient self-report (N=619) in an observational study in a specialised mental healthcare clinic. Sick leave was recorded from national registry data. A latent growth mixture model identified trajectories. Multinomial logistic regression determined differences in background characteristics while a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) identified clinical differences.
resultsWe identified three trajectories: The 'Resilient' group (47.7%) had low sick leave throughout the period. The two other groups ('Recovery', 31.8% and 'High risk', 20.5%) had similar pretreatment trajectories: lower sick leave one year prior which increased to high sick leave at the start of treatment. After treatment, the 'Recovery' group made an almost full return to work while the 'High risk' group remained at high sick leave. The two groups with high sick leave had more women and higher age compared with the 'Resilient' group. All groups had similar clinical scores at the start of treatment, but the 'High risk' groups had residual depressive symptoms at the end of treatment. Effect sizes for anxiety and depression were moderate or large for all groups, (Cohen's
conclusionWe found three subgroups with distinctly different trajectories. Female gender and higher age were associated with high sick leave at the start of treatment, while residual depressive symptoms at the end of treatment predicted continued sick leave. The study points to the possibility of improving patient outcomes in the future by stratifying and tailoring treatment to patient characteristics.
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