Abstract

BENJET, Corina; CASANOVA, Leticia; BORGES, Guilherme  and  MEDINA-MORA, María Elena. The impact of common mental and physical health conditions on days out of role: costs for the individual and society. Salud pública Méx [online]. 2013, vol.55, n.3, pp.248-256. ISSN 0036-3634.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the individual and societal costs of common mental and physical health conditions in the Mexican population with regards to the number of days out of role. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 5 826 adults were evaluated in 2001-2002 with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule. General linear models were used to estimate individual-level effects. Societal-level effects were estimated with the population attributable risk proportion which takes into account prevalence and comorbidity of disorders. RESULTS: The conditions with the strongest individual -level effects were major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. The strongest societal-level effects were associated with major depression, pain, insomnia and cardiovascular conditions. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest the importance of investing in mental health expenditure to a level commensurate with the costs to society of mental health disorders.

Keywords : epidemiology; chronic disease; mental health; cost of illness.