Mental health problems have overtaken musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain as the main reason for incapacity benefit claims, researchers have said.

Experts, writing in Occupational Medicine, looked at new benefit awards for both kinds of conditions in Britain from 1997 to 2007.

Claims for musculoskeletal disorders fell by 50% over the 11-year study, while mental health claims were steady.

Social views of illness might explain the change, the team said.

There are 2.6m people of working age in the UK currently claiming incapacity benefit.

The ratio of new claims for mental illness to those for musculoskeletal disorders more than doubled between 1997 and 2007, Department for Work and Pensions data showed.

Mental illness claims remained at around a quarter of a million while musculoskeletal disorders fell from 181,820 in 1997 to 84,420 in 2007.

The change occurred across the country, but the difference was more significant in north-east England and Scotland than in the South East.

People's beliefs

The researchers say such large changes cannot be explained by changes in working practices linked to musculoskeletal problems, and that there were no changes in the criteria used to assess claims.

Instead, David Coggon, Medical Research Council professor of occupational medicine at Southampton General Hospital who led the study, suggested it may be to do with people's beliefs and expectations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13309755