Young Japanese women twice as likely to take extended sick leave as men: study

Japanese women in their twenties were twice as likely to take extended sick leave as their male counterparts, a recent survey has found, prompting calls to health officials to pay more attention to sex and age in preventing long-term sick leave.

Mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety disorders, and pregnancy-related complications like severe morning sickness were the main reasons women called in sick for periods longer than 30 days, The Japan Times reported on Monday, citing a survey conducted by the Japan Institute for Health Security.

Yukari Taniyama and other researchers from the institute looked into sick leave cases from 2012 to 2021 involving around 100,000 employees at companies headquartered in east-central Japan. They categorised the incidence of illness or injury that caused extended sick leave by sex, age and cause.

Over the study period, 6,518 male employees took long-term sick leave, compared to 1,866 female employees. However, when calculated per 10,000 workers, women showed a higher incidence rate of 115.5 cases, against 89.2 for men.

By age group, women in their twenties took the most extended sick leave, at 176.6 cases per 10,000 workers, more than double the 83.8 seen among men of the same age.

Mental illness was the primary cause of long-term sick leave for both men and women, but that declined with age.

  

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