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[Length of temporal disability caused by tuberculosis]
J J Salvadores Rubio1, J Saavedra Miján, M Ramos Rodríguez
1Salud Pública del Area VIII, Consejería de Salud, Asturias.
Objective:
To determine the average length of time off work in working persons ill with tuberculosis in a health district.
Design:
Descriptive and retrospective.
Setting:
Community level, within a health district.
Participants:
Persons diagnosed between 1989 and 1998 with tuberculosis which caused time off work.
Measurements And Main Results:
An epidemiological data base of people with tuberculosis was crossed with the time-off-work records of the district's medical inspectorate, producing 58 patients. Average time off work was 220.3 days. Mean age was 37, almost all men (93.1%). 36.2% of the workers were miners, with their time off work greater than other workers (p = 0.003). No significant differences in the length of time off work were found for the variables of age, sex, health district, type of tuberculosis or year of diagnosis.
Conclusions:
We found that time off work lasted much longer than is customary, and was related to the hardship of the physical work. Return to work should be posed when there is clinical improvement in the patient and a definitive response to the tuberculosis treatment.