Abstract
Objective: Analyzing the association between Metabolic Syndrome (MS) risk factors and work absenteeism due to illnesses among University Hospital employees in Salvador City, Bahia, Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional study comprised 1173 Bahia Federal University Hospital employees: 57.3% of them were federal employees (statutory officers) and 42.7% were civil servants (CLT employees). Participants were in the age group 41.5 years: 69.4% were female and 30.6% were male. Results: MS prevalence in employees reached 6.6%; women accounted for 69.7% of the total. The percentage increases with age and has similar proportion among directcare providers and ancillary supports personnel, 40.8% and 39.5%, respectively. The risk factor analysis showed 25% hypertension, 54.6% weight excess (18.4% obese and 36.2% overweight patients), 20% hypercholesterolemia, 9.9% hypertriglyceridemia and 6.5% diabetes mellitus prevalence. Absenteeism longer than one day within the studied population reached 40.1%. Osteoarticular diseases were the most common reason for absenteeism, accounting for 50.7% of it: 62.6% of whom were either overweight or obese. The mean cost with absenteeism per employee was R$5492.87 ($2347.00 US Dollars), and it corresponds to annual cost of R 2,587,139.53 ($1,105,610.00 US Dollars). The highest cost with absenteeism caused by illnesses was recorded for female workers; for federal employees who were patient caregivers, who worked in the Pediatric Centre and who worked at night shifts. Conclusion: The high Metabolic Syndrome risk factors and overweight incidence are responsible for the increased costs faced by hospitals due to high absenteeism rates.
Highlights
The highest cost with absenteeism caused by illnesses was recorded for female workers; for federal employees who were patient caregivers, who worked in the Pediatric Centre and who worked at night shifts
Studies about the healthcare professional population are scarce in Brazil, the Metabolic Syndrome (MS) prevalence in this population is similar to, or even higher than, that of the general population [13] [29] [30]
In addition to the lack of studies in this field, there are no publications on MS prevalence and on its risk factors in healthcare professionals specifying occupational categories, working areas in healthcare institutions, absenteeism prevalence and the impact of absence-related costs
Summary
The increased prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) risk factors and, of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in health workers reached alarming global health and socioeconomic concern [1]-[7].Several studies have shown that both MS and its risk factors (Obesity, Hypertension—HTN, Diabetes Mellitus—DM and Dyslipidemia) in health workers are responsible for increased absenteeism rates caused by illnesses, as well as for increased costs due to extra temporary personnel contracted, life expectance and quality reduction, productivity decrease and for patient care giving-quality impairment [1] [2] [6] [8] [9] [10].The problem emerges from individual genetic factors and from environmental, political and management flaws in health institutions. The absence of nurses generates a tremendous impact on the quality of the care provided to patients due to their expressive number in health institutions and, mainly, due to the direct care they give to them. When it comes to systematic data about the absenteeism behavior of health professionals with expertise on other health fields, there are very few studies presenting systematic data measuring the behavior of workers in relation to their absenteeism [22]
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