Mental health-related sickness absences in parents of children with mental disorders or neurodevelopmental conditions

Abstract

Aims: Having a child with a psychiatric diagnosis is associated with parents' greater risk of subsequent mental disorders but no immediate change in their annual labour market metrics. This discrepancy could be explained by shorter absences from work. We examined first-time psychiatric sickness absences in parents whose children have psychiatric diagnoses.

Methods: Using several linked nationwide Finnish registers, in this cohort study we examined time to first psychiatric sickness absence in parents whose children were born in 2001-2012 (early-childhood-onset diagnoses) or 2005-2016 (late-childhood-onset diagnoses). Exposure was having a child with a psychiatric diagnosis. Follow-up started when the parent's eldest turned 1 (early-childhood-onset diagnoses) or 5 (late-childhood-onset diagnoses) and ended at psychiatric sickness absence, emigration, 68th birthday, death, or 31 December 2020, whichever occurred first.

Results: The 2001-2012 and 2005-2016 cohorts included 357 135 and 397 874 parents followed for 3.31 and 3.70 million person-years. Having a diagnosed child was associated with greater risk of psychiatric sickness absence in all except men whose children had substance use or psychotic disorder diagnoses. Time-varying analyses showed the greatest associations for women (HR: 4.92; 95% CI: 3.97-6.10) and men (HR: 2.48; 95% CI: 1.61-3.80) within 6 months of a child's eating disorder diagnosis.

Conclusions: Parents of children with psychiatric diagnoses may be at a greater risk of a psychiatric sickness absence. Associations differed by child's diagnosis, parent's gender and time since diagnosis.

Keywords: adolescence; child psychiatry; economic issues; families; mental health.

Figure 1.

Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of parents’ psychiatric sickness absence after child’s psychiatric diagnosis.

Figure 2.

Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of parents’ psychiatric sickness absence after child’s psychiatric diagnosis according to time since the child’s diagnosis.