Mental and behavioral disorders in workers: a study on work leave

A cross-sectional census study conducted between June and July 2017 in which data were used from the National Social Security Institute database, with all workers’ records. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and inferential tests.

Results:

The sample included 2,449 workers. Workers who were on leave because of mental and behavioral disorders were mostly women, aged between 31 and 40 years and with an income of less than or equal to one or two minimum wages. The first and second reasons for work leave were mood disorders. Working in an urban setting was considered a risk factor for more than one work leave (p<0.05). The following disorders were strongly associated with more than one work leave (p<0.001): mood disorder; schizophrenia; schizotypal and delusional disorders; disorders related to the use of psychoactive substances; stress-related disorders; and somatoform disorders.

Conclusion:

Employers are encouraged to invest in the mental health of their workers with a view to promoting health and avoiding work leave.

DESCRIPTORS
Mental Disorders; Absenteeism; Occupational Health

Variables		n	%
Sex
	Male	1,192	48.7
	Female	1,257	51.3
Age		Mean=41.9 SD=10.9	Min.=19 Max.=73
	20 to 30	388	15.8
	31 to 40	799	32.6
	41 to 50	632	25.8
	51 to 60	511	20.8
	60 or older	119	4.7
Income
	≤1 to 2 MW	2,047	83.6
	3 to 4 MW	298	12.2
	4 to 6 MW	79	3.2
	More than 6 MW	25	1.0
Municipality of origin
	Teresina	1,134	46.3
	Other municipalities in the state of PI	1,164	47.6
	Other states	151	6.1
Total		2,449	100.0

Variables		N	%
Area of activity
	Urban	1,975	80.6
	Rural	474	19.4
Number of cases of work leave
	One	2,248	91.7
	Two	190	7.8
	Three or more	11	0.5
Total time on work leave (days)		Mean=205.2 Min.=22	Max.=613 SD=104.7
	Up to 30 days	2	0.1
	31 to 60 days	4	0.2
	61 to 90 days	11	0.4
	91 to 120 days	24	1.0
	121 to 180 days	50	2.0
	181 to 365 days	93	3.8
	More than 365 days	2,265	92.5
Single work leave Benefit
Benefit
	Pension sickness benefit	1,881	76.8
	Accident sickness benefit	124	5.1
	Disability retirement pension	12	0.5
	Accident disability retirement	231	9.4
	Not applicable^* * Workers who had more than one case of work leave	201	8.2
Cause of work leave
	Organic mental disorders (F00 to F09)	53	2.2
	MBD Use of psychoactive substances (F10 to F19)	251	10.2
	Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (F20 to F29)	522	21.3
	Mood disorders (F30 a F39)	1,065	43.5
	Neurotic disorders, stress or somatoform disorders (F40 to F48)	337	13.8
	Behavioral syndromes (F50 to F59)	3	0.1
	Personality disorder (F60 to F69)	3	0.1
	Mental retardation (F70 to F79)	10	0.4
	Others	3	0.1
	Not applicable^* * Workers who had more than one case of work leave	201	8.2
Year of work leave
	2015	933	38.1
	2016	1,315	53.7
	Not applicable^* * Workers who had more than one case of work leave	201	8.2
Total		2,449	100.0

Sociodemographic variables		More than one work leave		P value
		Yes	No
		n (%)	n (%)
Sex				0,748^* * Chi-square;
	Male	102 (8,1)	1.155 (91,9)
	Female	101 (8,5)	1.091 (91,5)
Age				0,411^* * Chi-square;
	Up to 40 years	104 (8,8)	1.083 (91,2)
	41 years or older	99 (7,8)	1.163 (92,2)
Income				0,556^* * Chi-square;
	Up to 4 MW	196 (8,4)	2.149 (91,6)
	Above 4 MW	7 (6,7)	97 (93,3)
Municipality of origin				0,093^* * Chi-square;
	Municipalities of Piauí	196 (8,5)	2.102 (91,5)
	Other municipalities	7 (4,6)	144 (95,4)
Social security
Area of activity				0,003^* * Chi-square;
	Urban	180 (9,1)	1.795 (90,9)
	Rural	23 (4,8)	451 (95,2)
Chapter V - ICD 10 ^* ***** For each type of disorder, the presence of the disorder was considered in single cases of work leave and in the first or second cases of work leave. The number for each disorder differs from the total (n) (2,449).
Mood disorder (F30 to F39) (n =2,365)				<0,001^ Fisher's exact;
	Yes	117 (4,9)	1.066 (45,1)
	No	3 (0,1)	1.119 (47,3)
Schizophrenia, Schizotypal and delusional disorders (F20 to F29) (n = 2,306)				<0,001^ Fisher's exact;
	Yes	59 (2,5)	522 (22,6)
	No	3 (0,1)	1.722 (74,7)
Psychoactive subst. (F10 to F19) (n= 2,268)				<0,001^ Fisher's exact;
	Yes	22 (1,0)	250 (11,0)
	No	2 (0,1)	1.994 (87,9)
Stress-related disorders/somatoform disorders (F40 to F48) (n= 2,269)				<0,001^ Fisher's exact;
	Yes	22 (1,0)	337 (14,8)
	No	2 (0,1)	1.908 (84,1)
Benefits ^* ***** For each type of disorder, the presence of the disorder was considered in single cases of work leave and in the first or second cases of work leave. The number for each disorder differs from the total (n) (2,449).
Accident sickness benefit (n=2,269)				<0,001^ Fisher's exact;
	Yes	22 (1,0)	124 (5,5)
	No	3 (0,1)	2.120 (93,4)
Social security sickness benefit (n=2,442)				<0,001^ Fisher's exact;
	Yes	196 (8,0)	1.879 (76,9)
	No	0 (0,0)	367 (15,0)

Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Márcia Astrês Fernandes, Campus Universitário Ministro Petrônio Portela, Bloco 12, Bairro Ininga CEP 64049-550 - Teresina, PI, Brazil m.astres@ufpi.edu.br