SummaryAims– The term “presenteeism” is used to describe workers who are present in the workforce, but who are not functioning at full capacity. The objective of the study was to describe the impact of mood and anxiety disorders on presenteeism in a population sample.Methods– Random digit dialing was used to select a sample of n= 3345 subjects between the ages of 18 and 64. A computer assisted telephone interview that included theMini Neuropsychiatric Diagnostic Interview(MINI), theStanford Presenteeism Scale6 (SPS-6) and a pharmacoepidemiology module was administered.Results– Among subjects with comorbid mood and anxiety disorders 75.0% reported interference with their work compared with only 13.3% of subjects without mood or anxiety disorders. Mood and anxiety disorders were associated with lower presenteeism ratings. Regression analysis uncovered a significant gender by anxiety disorder interaction, indicating that the effect of anxiety disorders was greater in men than women.Conclusions– This is the first study to report the impact of mental disorders on presenteeism in a general population sample. The results confirm that the problem of presenteeism is not restricted to specific occupational groups, but is instead a widespread problem in the general population.Declaration of Interest: This study was funded by the Alberta Depression Initiative through the Institute of Health Economics (www.ihe.ab.ca). Dr. Esposito was supported by an International Resident Fellowship from the University of Calgary. Dr. Patten is a Health Scholar with the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and a Fellow with the Institute of Health Economics. Dr. Wang is a New Investigator with the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.