Medication and Rehabilitation of Persons Applying for Disability Pension Due to Depression: A Register-Based Retrospective Study From Finland

Published 12.7.2023

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate how drug therapies and rehabilitation options have been utilised before applying for a disability pension due to depression.

Methods

A retrospective register-based study of the 3604 persons who applied for a disability pension from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) in 2019. In Finland, disability pension is usually preceded by an incapacity for work lasting for 1 year, during which time therapeutic procedures, which were analysed here, are applied.

Results

Approximately half (56.0%) of the applicants had reimbursed purchases of two or more antidepressants during the 12 months preceding the disability pension application. Psychotherapy was received by 13.8% and 19.2% of the applicants 1 and 5 years before application, respectively. The share of applicants receiving some form of rehabilitation 1 year before application was 24.8% and 39.0% in the 5 years preceding application. During the 4 months before application, 19.6% of the applicants had no antidepressant purchases. In total, 12.2% of the applicants had both antidepressant treatment and psychotherapy in the year preceding the application, and 9.9% had neither psychotherapy nor antidepressant treatment.

Conclusion

Before applying for disability pension, only a minority of the applicants had received effective treatment for depression in the form of psychotherapy and antidepressants. However, most of the applicants had received some form of treatment, but it appears to have been insufficient.

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Authors

Tero Kujanpää, Sauli Jäppinen, Matti Rantanen, Kirsi Suominen, Veera Pohjolainen, Riitta Luoto

Additional Information

Peer-Reviewed: yes.
Open Access: yes.
Cite as: Kujanpää, T., Jäppinen, S., Rantanen, M., Suominen, K., Pohjolainen, V., & Luoto, R. (2023). Medication and rehabilitation of persons applying for disability pension due to depression: a register-based retrospective study from Finland. Nordic journal of psychiatry, 1–6. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039488.2023.2232361