Journal Article

Associations of serious mental illness with earnings: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys

Lepine, Jean-Pierre, Hu, Chiyi, Kessler, Ronald C., Petukhova, Maria, Borges, Guilherme, Bruffaerts, Ronny, Haro, Josep Maria, Angermeyer, Matthias, Posada-Villa, José, de Graaf, Ron, Williams, David R., Zaslavsky, Alan M., Sagar, Rajesh, Okoliyski, Michail, de Girolamo, Giovanni, Gureje, Oye, Lee, Sing, Levinson, Daphna, Karam, Aimee N., Viana, Maria Carmen, Browne, Mark Oakley, Kawakami, Norito, Lakoma, Matthew D., Schoenbaum, Michael

2010

Overview

Burden-of-illness data, which are often used in setting healthcare policy-spending priorities, are unavailable for mental disorders in most countries. To examine one central aspect of illness burden, the association of serious mental illness with earnings, in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys. The WMH Surveys were carried out in 10 high-income and 9 low- and middle-income countries. The associations of personal earnings with serious mental illness were estimated. Respondents with serious mental illness earned on average a third less than median earnings, with no significant between-country differences (chi(2)(9) = 5.5-8.1, P = 0.52-0.79). These losses are equivalent to 0.3-0.8% of total national earnings. Reduced earnings among those with earnings and the increased probability of not earning are both important components of these associations. These results add to a growing body of evidence that mental disorders have high societal costs. Decisions about healthcare resource allocation should take these costs into consideration.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press,Royal College Of Psychiatrists
• Subject: Absenteeism / Adolescent / Adult / Age Distribution / Associations / Capital costs / Confidentiality / Cost of Illness / Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders / Disorders / Earnings / Econometrics / Employment - economics / Employment - statistics & numerical data / Expenditures / Generalized linear models / Global Health / Health care / Health care policy / Health costs / Health services / Health Surveys / High income / Households / Humans / Illnesses / Income - statistics & numerical data / International Classification of Diseases / Labor force / Lagrange multiplier / Low income groups / Mental disorders / Mental Disorders - economics / Mental Disorders - epidemiology / Mental health / Mental health care / Mental illness / Middle Aged / Polls & surveys / Prioritizing / Probability / Psychiatric disorders / Psychiatry / Public health / Regression Analysis / Resource allocation / Respondents / Risk Factors / Severity of Illness Index / Sex Distribution / World Health Organization / Young Adult