Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/12926
Appears in Collections:Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Predicting which people with psychosocial distress are at risk of becoming dependent on state benefits: analysis of routinely available data
Author(s): Whittaker, William
Sutton, Matt
Maxwell, Margaret
Munoz-Arroyo, Rosalia
Macdonald, Sara R
Power, Andrew
Smith, Michael
Wilson, Philip
Morrison, Jill
Contact Email: margaret.maxwell@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Public welfare Great Britain
Issue Date: 17-Aug-2010
Date Deposited: 15-May-2013
Citation: Whittaker W, Sutton M, Maxwell M, Munoz-Arroyo R, Macdonald SR, Power A, Smith M, Wilson P & Morrison J (2010) Predicting which people with psychosocial distress are at risk of becoming dependent on state benefits: analysis of routinely available data. <i>BMJ</i>, 341 (c3838). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c3838
Abstract: Objectives: To examine whether there was significant variation in levels of claiming incapacity benefit across general practices. To establish whether it is possible to identify people with mental health problems who are more at risk of becoming dependent on state benefits for long term health problems based on their general practice consulting behaviour.Design: Interrogation of routinely available data in theScottish Health Surveys and the British Household Panel Survey.Setting: Scotland and the United Kingdom.Participants: Respondents to the Scottish Health Surveys in 1995, 1998, and 2003 (7932, 12,939 and 11,472 respondents, respectively). Respondents to the British Household Panel Survey, 1991-2007 (more than 5,000 households).Main outcome measures: Intracluster correlation coefficient for probability of work incapacity by general practice. Caseness according to the general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) and frequency of consultation with general practitioner in years before and after starting to claim incapacity benefit.Results: There was a small and non-significant amount ofvariation across general practices in Scotland in rate of claims for incapacity benefit after adjustment for other explanatory variables (intracluster correlation coefficient 0.01, P=0.135). There was a significant increase in rates of GHQ-12 caseness from two years before the start of claiming incapacity benefit (odds ratio 1.6, 95% confidence interval 1.3 to 1.9) and an increase in frequent consultation with a general practitioner from three years before the start of claiming incapacity benefit (1.8, 1.3 to2.4). People with GHQ-12 caseness showed a significant increase in frequent consultations with a general practitioner from two years before the start of claiming incapacity benefit (2.1, 1.4 to 3.2).Conclusions: There was no variation in levels of claiming incapacity benefit across general practices in Scotland after adjustment for differences in population characteristics and so initiatives targeted at practices with high levels are unlikely to be effective. People with mental health problems who are likely to have problems remaining in work can be identified up to three years before they transit on to long term benefits related to ill health.
DOI Link: 10.1136/bmj.c3838
Rights: Publisher is open-access. Open access publishing allows free access to and distribution of published articles where the author retains copyright of their work by employing a Creative Commons attribution licence. Proper attribution of authorship and correct citation details should be given.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

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