PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Tuija M Mikkola AU - Minna Mänty AU - Hannu Kautiainen AU - Mikaela B von Bonsdorff AU - Maija Haanpää AU - Hannu Koponen AU - Teppo Kröger AU - Johan G Eriksson TI - Work incapacity among family caregivers: a record linkage study AID - 10.1136/jech-2021-217901 DP - 2022 Jun 01 TA - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health PG - 580--585 VI - 76 IP - 6 4099 - http://jech.bmj.com/content/76/6/580.short 4100 - http://jech.bmj.com/content/76/6/580.full SO - J Epidemiol Community Health2022 Jun 01; 76 AB - Background Family caregiving-related physical and mental health problems may lead to work incapacity in employed caregivers. The aim of this study was to quantify sickness absences and disability pensions (SADP) among high-intensity family caregivers available to the labour market compared with a control population.Methods The study sample included all individuals in Finland, who had received caregiver’s allowance and were available to the labour market in 2012 (n=16 982) and their controls (n=35 371). Information on the number of sickness absence (spells >10 days) and disability pension (SADP) days and related diagnoses according to ICD-10 were obtained from national registers for the years 2012–2017. The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, occupational status, education, income and degree of urbanisation.Results During the follow-up, 40.9% of caregivers and 39.5% of controls had at least one sickness absence spell and 6.1% and 4.7%, respectively, received disability pension. The mean annual number of SADP days was 23.2 (95% CI 22.3 to 24.1) for caregivers and 18.5 (95% CI 18.0 to 19.0) for controls (adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR)=1.16, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.22). The number of annual SADP days due to mental disorders was higher in caregivers (7.2, 95% CI 6.7 to 7.8) than controls (4.0, 95% CI 3.8 to 4.3; adjusted IRR 1.58, 95% CI 1.42 to 1.75). There were no differences in SADP days due to cancer, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, or musculoskeletal diseases, or external causes.Discussion Higher number of SADP days due to mental disorders in caregivers suggests that family caregiving has an adverse effect on work capacity and that caregivers are at increased risk for mental disorders.Data are available on reasonable request. Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The data that support the findings of this study are available from Finnish Tax Administration, and Findata but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors on reasonable request and with permission of Finnish Tax Administration, and Findata.