RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To find the level of absenteeism among workers in the primary care management of Murcia, along with their distribution by professional category, health area, age and gender; and (2) find the causes of absenteeism and the relationship between these causes and the number of days lost. DESIGN: A descriptive, retrospective, population-based study. SETTING: Primary care management in Murcia. POPULATION: The management staff in Murcia consisted of 1,225 employees, who overall had 610 short-term periods of unfitness for work (SUW) due to common illness and accidents not at work, between October 1st, 1992 and October 1st, 1993. The variables studied were: age, gender, professional category, area where they worked, reason for and length of SUW and type of care. MAIN RESULTS: Index of absenteeism (IA) = 0.50, index of Seriousness (IS) = 40.75, Index of Incapacity (IL) = 18.12 and overall rate (OR) = 4.96. We found a large amount of SUW "without diagnosis": 104 cases (17.04%), which was the second most frequent cause behind respiratory complaints (23.77%). The IS were high in pathologies of the circulatory system, mental illness and neoplasias. CONCLUSIONS: The length of SUW (IS) is not influenced by any of the variables studied, excepting the specific cause of the SUW. II and IA are affected by the model of care (greater in the traditional type, p < 0.05), the health area where they work (p < 0.001) and professional category (p < 0.001). The filling out the sickness note must be improved in order to lessen the number of SUWs "without diagnosis".
