Female office workers wearing high heels, clothes and bags of the same colour make their way at a business district in Tokyo, Japan, June 4, 2019. Photo: Reuters
The primary causes included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, as well as pregnancy-related problems, such as severe morning sickness, according to the survey by the Japan Institute for Health Security.
Yukari Taniyama and other researchers at the institute analyzed sick leave cases in fiscal 2012-21 among approximately 100,000 people working for companies headquartered in the Kanto and Tokai regions in eastern and central Japan.
They examined the incidence of illness or injury leading to 30 or more days off work by gender, age and cause.
During this period, there were 6,518 cases of long-term sick leave among men and 1,866 among women.
When calculating the incidence of such leave per 10,000 people working for a year, women had a rate of 115.5 compared with 89.2 for men.
Among age groups, women in their 20s had the highest rate at 176.6, which was 2.1 times higher than the rate for men in the same age group, at 83.8.
While mental illness was the leading cause of long-term sick leave for both genders, its prevalence decreased with age.
Additionally, women in their 30s to 50s showed a higher incidence of sick leave due to cancer compared with men in the same age bracket.
"Women generally have a higher incidence of long-term sick leave than men," Taniyama said.
"Gender and age differences must be taken into account when treating and preventing diseases that cause sick leave."
