Issue:

A work-related injury can have an impact that extends beyond the immediate injury to the development of mental health disorders post-injury. There are studies which show that non work-related injuries can result in development of mental disorders. However, it is not clear from the current evidence if the increase in mental health illness is work-related, not work-related or due to a pre-existing condition.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) states that mental illness is a leading cause of disability in Canada. There is a stigma associated with mental health illness and the CAMH reported that just 50% of Canadians would tell friends or co-workers that they a have a family member with a mental illness compared to 72% who would disclose a diagnosis of cancer. CAMH also reports that in any given week approximately 500,000 employed Canadians are unable to work due to mental health problems, and approximately 175,000 full-time workers are absent from work due to mental illness.

Objectives:

This study aims to examine whether mental illness following a workplace injury is an outcome of the workplace injury or a result of other causes. The study would compare a group of injured workers with two other groups: a cohort of persons with similar but non-work related injuries and an uninjured group drawn from the general population. The researchers intend to examine whether the observed physical and mental illnesses differ between the three groups.
The relative rates (RR) of disorders between the cohorts would be calculated and adjusted for factors found to differ between the cohorts.

Anticipated Results:

This research is timely as it may inform WCB policy and practice in the adjudication and management of psychological injuries in the workplace including post-traumatic stress disorder.
The results from the RR analysis would allow the researchers to determine if the impact on mental health is truly related to the injury or instead representative of pre-existing mental disorders.

Investigators:

Sarvesh Logsetty, Jitender Sareen, James Bolton and Allen Kraut, University of Manitoba; Dan Chateau, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy