268784 Workforce depression and job performance: Making maximum use of health and productivity information

Monday, October 29, 2012

Kimberly Jinnett, PhD , Integrated Benefits Institute, San Francisco, CA
This study examines how comorbid depression affects job performance among individuals who are being treated for a variety of chronic conditions and also analyzes the effects of health risk status on job performance for a subsample of employees with depression. The study used retrospective observational data over a 29-month period, including medical and pharmacy administrative claims and self-reported health risk appraisal (HRA) survey data. The medical and pharmacy claims-based identification criteria required an employee to have at least one physician visit, emergency department visit or inpatient stay with a condition-related ICD-9-CM diagnosis and at least one condition-related pharmacy prescription fill within a maximum of 18 months preceding the HPA completion date. The HRA survey used in this study contains a standard set of medical, lifestyle, and health risk indicators, along with items that capture self-reported data on chronic health conditions, absence, and job performance. About 8% to 9% of employees in the condition-medication subgroups had depression comorbidity. The study found that depression co-morbidity was significantly associated with a decline in job performance after controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, occupational class, number of chronic comorbidities, average paid medical and pharmacy claims per month, and health risk status. Among those with depression, high and medium health risk exhibited a significant influence on job performance compared to the low risk group. Functional outcomes including job performance measures can be used in concert with information on co-morbidities and health risks to develop holistic health management approaches for individuals with depression.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention

Learning Objectives:
Identify the prevalence of depression co-morbidity among a sub-sample of individuals in treatment for the following chronic conditions: type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension. Demonstrate the effects of having a depression co-morbidity on job performance. Explain the effects of health risk levels (low, medium and high) on job performance among a sub-sample of individuals with depression.

Keywords: Depression, Performance Measurement

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a lead researcher on the study covered in the Abstract and have been conducting research on health and productivity for more than seven years. In addition, I have conducted research and/or published across a wide-variety of health services research areas since 1993.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.