Concomitant, concurrent, or successive psychiatric and somatic disorders are frequent in depression and are associated with poorer prognosis in terms of treatment outcomes (1–4). Previous research has shown depression to commonly coexist with other psychiatric disorders (5),musculoskeletal disorders (6,7), cardiovascular disease (8–11), diabetes (12,13), hypertension (14), and cancer (15) as well as several other somatic symptoms and diseases (4,16,17). However, the extent to which these different conditions are relevant in occupational settings remains unknown.Depression is a major source of absence from work, and it is possible that present and recent psychiatric and somatic conditions modify the outcome of depression-relatedepisodes of absence, such as return to work. Epidemiological studies on depressive disorders often adjust analyses for comorbidity, but the specific impact of present and recent psychiatric and somatic conditions on the burden or prognosis of depression-related absence from work hasrarely been studied. There is evidence that comorbid mental and physical disorders are associated with more sick leave days and work cut-back days than either mental or physical disorders alone (18–24). In these studies, however, the definition of other chronic conditions has been very broad and based on self-reported rather than verified medicalconditions. Moreover, these studies examined the onset of absence rather than the return to work after an episode of absence.In small-scale clinical samples, somatic (25) and psychiatric (26) comorbidity among depressive patients predicted longer absence from work, and somatic comorbidity (27) predicted disability pension, that is, early retirement. Population-based studies found comorbid psychiatricand somatic disorders to be robust predictors of disability pension (28–31). In one study, comorbid asthma and depression were associated with an especially high risk of long-term all-cause absence from work (32). Psychiatric, cardiometabolic, and musculoskeletal comorbidity has also been associated with increased risk of recurrence of depression-related work disability (33). The authors hypothesized that the mechanism linking comorbidity to prognosis of depression-related work disability may be related to overall increased disease burden or to similar biological pathways, which may intensify one another (33). However, we are not aware of studies on how the burden of present or recent other psychiatric and somatic conditions affectsreturn to work after depression-related absence.We sought answers to this question in a cohort of employees with depression-related absence. To cover a wide range of other conditions in addition to psychiatric disorders other than depression, we focused on cardiovascular disease, chronic hypertension, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, asthma, and cancer. We hypothesized that either currently having or having recently experienced one of these disorders would make return to work less likely.The potential public health implications of this study include improved prognosis regarding the length of absence from work for employees with depression. With regard to clinical implications, studying the role of other disorders in the prognosis of depression-related absence from work may contribute to more successful management and treatment for employees with depressive disorders.