[Treatment of stress, sick leave and occupational stability].

Introduction: The aim was to describe a rehabilitation process of individuals with stress-related adjustment disorders and analysing the prognostic impact of certain individual factors with sick leave and work resumption as outcome.

Methods: A retrospective cohort from the period 1996-2004 was conducted by means of an audit of 220 files of patients who have visited an occupational health care unit.

Results: A still increasing number of patients, mainly working in public health and welfare institutions, were admitted during the nine year study period. The average rehabilitation duration was 144 days (range: 3-689). After that period a decrease in the number of individuals on sick leave was found, and a total of 62% had returned to work or remained in work. The only individual predictor having negative impact on ability to work was psychopharmacologic drug treatment (Odds Ratio: 0.43: 0.23-0.81), whereas somatic drug treatment, age, gender, skill, workplace, matrimony, and smoking all were without any significant influence on work ability.

Conclusion: This study shows that an occupational rehabilitation process of patients with stress-related adjustment disorders seems to improve ability to resume work, but a minor group, especially those in psychopharmacologic drug treatment, need prolonged rehabilitation. More rigorous study design is needed to confirm these findings.