Abstract
Sickness absenteeism in public institutions compromises the execution of services, and may also generate direct impacts on the population that receives coverage. To determine if sick leave duration for temporary disabilities is associated with non-work-related illnesses (NWRI), a historical cohort study was carried out of workers at a Brazilian University. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was obtained from the most prevalent diagnoses in each expert examination and from the corresponding days of sick leave per episode, adjusting simple and multiple Cox regression models. As a result, 70% of the NWRI temporary disabilities were due to depressive disorders, convalescence, and dorsalgia with a sick leave duration between 4 and 320 days. The factors of protection for sick leave durations until the rehabilitation were non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Long-term sick leaves were observed in the cases that required rehabilitation of those workers diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorders, conjunctivitis, acute sinusitis, skin disorders, calculus of kidney and ureter, abdominal and pelvic pain, and same-level fall accidents. It is also worth noting that even in a disease that can justify long-term sick leaves, such as breast cancer, the duration may be shorter according to the worker’s capacity and self-efficacy.
Highlights
Sickness absenteeism, understood as the non-attendance at work due to a certified or licensed illness [1], is a known subject of concern among all institutions for its associated reduction of working capacity and productivity [2,3,4]
On the other hand, when the data were compared with those for infectious or parasitic diseases, which are used as a reference category, we found increased probabilities of long-term sick leaves in the cases that required the rehabilitation of the workers diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorders hazard ratios ratios (HR) = 1.5 (1.18–1.94), conjunctivitis HR = 2.78 (1.96–3.94), acute sinusitis HR = 4.99 (2.68–9.30), skin conditions HR = 3.80 (2.15–6.72), dorsalgia HR = 1.62 (1.25–2.10), calculus of kidney and ureter
We identified variables associated with a greater likelihood of extending sick leave duration in cases requiring an adaptation of the job position
Summary
Understood as the non-attendance at work due to a certified or licensed illness [1], is a known subject of concern among all institutions for its associated reduction of working capacity and productivity [2,3,4]. In public institutions, in addition to the cost increase inherent to the event, sick leaves compromise the execution of services, and may generate direct impacts on the population that receives coverage. Long-term sick leaves cause the return to work to be difficult, mainly when it involves rehabilitation, because it implies changes in positions, functions, and status depending on the limitations caused by the disease. Some factors hinder the adaptation to the new work, such as not feeling identified with oneself in another function, the reorganization of everyday activities according to new schedules and obligations, the creation of new bonds with co-workers, the fear of. Public Health 2018, 15, 2127; doi:10.3390/ijerph15102127 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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