Absenteeism and sickness as per self-reports by municipal public employees in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the profile of municipal public servants who reported illnessrelated absenteeism in the preceding 12 months. The study involved a sample of 5,646 (14%) of all 38,304 municipal workers in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 2009. A questionnaire was placed on the Internet, where entry depended on the respondents’ consent. Poisson regression analysis was used to determine the associated factors. Absenteeism due to illness was highly correlated with women (PR 1.12) and decreased with age: 30-39 years (PR 0.79), 40-49 years (PR 0.72) and 50 years of over (PR 0.68). Sickness-related absenteeism was closely associated with work involving monitoring and surveillance groups (PR 1.46), general services (PR 1.22), information, education and culture (PR 1.50), and health (PR 1.50). Comorbidities included WRMD (PR 1.19), lower-back pain (PR 1.16), depression / anxiety (PR 1.20) and perception of mental fatigue (PR 1.12). The reported use of medication for depression / anxiety proved to be a protective factor (PR 0.82). Factors such as Greater likelihood of mental disorder (PR 1.23) according to SRQ20, Dissatisfaction with one’s ability to work (PR 1.08), Reasonable conditions (PR 1.21) and Poor working conditions (PR 1.19), were associated with the outcomes. Health promotion programs would be useful to decrease illness-related absenteeism because interventions for preventing musculoskeletal comorbidity and psychosocial complaints would attenuate situations that are probably the source of absenteeism due to illness.