Table 2

Descriptive statistics of 66 097 women and men, aged 18–59 years on 31 December 2005 with at least one new sick-leave spell due to a common mental disorder in 2006 in Sweden with regard to morbidity and socioeconomic status, stratified by migration status

 SwedenWestern countries*Non-Western countries†Significance test‡
N (%)N (%)N (%)
Specialised healthcare 2001–2006
Mental diagnosis
 None44 612 (78.3)2748 (78.1)4073 (73.2)χ2=75.8
 Any12 399 (21.7)772 (21.9)1493 (26.8)p<0.001
Somatic diagnosis
 None9509 (16.7)569 (16.2)690 (12.4)χ2=68.2
 Any47 502 (83.3)2951 (83.8)4876 (87.6)p<0.001
Psychiatric medication§ 2006
 None21 049 (36.9)1185 (33.7)1800 (32.3)χ2=145.6
 Antidepr only10 918 (19.2)618 (17.6)903 (16.2)p<0.001
 Hyp/Sed/Anx only6413 (11.2)416 (11.8)684 (12.3)
 Mixed medications18 631 (32.7)1301 (37.0)2179 (39.1)
Socioeconomic status
Education, 2005
 Low6982 (12.2)546 (15.5)1071 (19.2)χ2=263.8
 Medium29 960 (52.6)1645 (46.7)2697 (48.5)p<0.001
 High20 069 (35.2)1329 (37.8)1798 (32.3)
  • *Western countries include the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway), EU25 (all countries included in the European Union in 2006 without Sweden), North America and Oceania.

  • †Non-Western countries comprise all remaining countries.

  • ‡χ2 test.

  • §Antidepr, antidepressants; Hyp, hypnotics; Sed, sedatives; Anx, anxiolytics.