eTable 3. Events during care pathways in severe depression, stratified according to the five most common care pathways for insurance holders with no diagnosis of depression or any other mental illness during the preobservation period, 1 January to 31 December 2005; n = 1149.

Number of care pathway*1	Care pathway	Number/percentage of insurance holders with care pathway n (%)	Percentage of patients unable to work due to mental illness*2 % (95% CI)	Percentage of patients retiring early due to mental illness*2 % (95% CI)	Mortality % (95% CI)
1	Primary care physician/other specialist in somatic medicine (no onward referral)	646 56.2	10.3 (7.9 to 12.6)	0 (0 to 0)	3.1 (1.8 to 4.5)
2	Physician specializing in psychiatry and psychotherapy (no onward referral)	119 10.4	7.4 (1.6 to 13.2)	0 (0 to 0)	2.5 (0 to 5.9)
3	Primary care physician/other specialist in somatic medicine, referral to physician specializing in psychiatry and psychotherapy	112 9.7	19.2 (11.5 to 26.9)	1.0 (0 to 2.9)	5.8 (1.2 to 10.3)
4	Physician specializing in psychiatry and psychotherapy, referral to primary care physician/other specialist in somatic medicine	60 5.2	18.3 (8.3 to 28.4)	1.7 (0 to 5.0)	0 (0 to 0)
5	Primary care physician/other specialist in somatic medicine, referral to psychiatric department	36 3.1	31.8 (10.7 to 53.0)	0 (0 to 0)	9.1 (0 to 22.1)

^*1 In decreasing order of frequency of care pathway.

^*2When interpreting incapacity for work and early retirement , it should be remembered that the index population also includes insurance holders who were not of working age (<15 years or >65 years). The corresponding percentages may therefore be underestimates. These age limits are generally chosen in order to give the most complete possible overview of working age, even though its age boundaries are usually imprecisely defined. It should also be remembered that there is no causal relationship between mortality and the care pathway or the parameters incapacity for work and early retirement. 95% CI: 95% confidence interval