RESUMEN
Sickness absence from work is a measure of both poor health and social functioning. In order to assess the frequency of sick leave due to ear-related diagnoses, we performed a retrospective analysis on the registry of paid sick leave certificates supplied by the main social security institution in Mexico during the years 2018 and 2019, just prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We observed that, in the two years, 22,053 sick leave certificates due to ear-related diagnoses were provided to 18,033 workers. The most frequent ear-related diagnoses were those of vestibular disorders (94.64%); among them, the most common diagnosis was Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (75.16%), followed by Labrynthitis and Meniere's disease (circa 8% each). A total of 4.63% of the diagnoses were related to external and middle ear disorders, and 0.71% were mainly related to hearing. Consistently, the highest cumulative days of sick leave required were given for the group of diagnoses related to vestibular disorders; although the less frequent diagnoses required the highest cumulative days per case (e.g., ototoxicity). During 2018 and 2019, the most frequent diagnoses of ear-related sick leave were due to vestibular diagnoses (particularly Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo).
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Permanent occupational disability is one of the most severe consequences of diabetes that impedes the performance of usual working activities among economically active individuals. Survival rates and worker compensation expenses have not previously been examined among Mexican workers. We aimed to describe the worker compensation expenses derived from pension payments and also to examine the survival rates and characteristics associated with all-cause mortality, in a cohort of 34,014 Mexican workers with permanent occupational disability caused by diabetes during the years 2000-2013 at the Mexican Institute of Social Security. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis study was conducted using national administrative records data from the entire country, regarding permanent occupational disability medical certification, pension payment and vital status. Survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) in order to assess the cohort characteristics and all-cause mortality risk. Total expenses derived from pension payments for the period were accounted for in U.S. dollars (USD, 2013). RESULTS: There were 12,917 deaths in 142,725.1 person-years. Median survival time was 7.26 years. After multivariate adjusted analysis, males (HR, 1.39; 95 % CI, 1.29-1.50), agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers (HR, 1.41; 95 % CI, 1.15-1.73) and renal complications (HR, 3.49; 95 % CI, 3.18-3.83) had the highest association with all-cause mortality. The all-period expenses derived from pension payments amounted to $777.78 million USD (2013), and showed a sustained increment: from $58.28 million USD in 2000 to $111.62 million USD in 2013 (percentage increase of 91.5 %). CONCLUSIONS: Mexican workers with permanent occupational disability caused by diabetes had a median survival of 7.26 years, and those with renal complications showed the lowest survival in the cohort. Expenses derived from pension payments amounted to $ 777 million USD and showed an important increase from 2000 to 2013.