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. 2010 Aug;197(2):114-21.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.073635.

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

Daphna Levinson  1 , Matthew D Lakoma, Maria Petukhova, Michael Schoenbaum, Alan M Zaslavsky, Matthias Angermeyer, Guilherme Borges, Ronny Bruffaerts, Giovanni de Girolamo, Ron de Graaf, Oye Gureje, Josep Maria Haro, Chiyi Hu, Aimee N Karam, Norito Kawakami, Sing Lee, Jean-Pierre Lepine, Mark Oakley Browne, Michail Okoliyski, José Posada-Villa, Rajesh Sagar, Maria Carmen Viana, David R Williams, Ronald C Kessler
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Associations of serious mental illness with earnings: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys

Daphna Levinson et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2010 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Burden-of-illness data, which are often used in setting healthcare policy-spending priorities, are unavailable for mental disorders in most countries.

Aims: 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.

Method: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusions: 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.

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