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[Malingering among workers seeking disability insurance]
Martín Rafael Quezada-Ortega1, José Luis Pedro Razo-Mondragón, Irma Araceli Marín-Cotoñieto
1División y Coordinación de Salud en el Trabajo, IMSS Ecatepec, Estado de Mexico, D.F., Mexico.
Objective:
Describe the frequency and characteristics of Mexican Social Security workers with malingering disorder that request disability pension.
Material And Methods:
Comparative survey made among 136 workers seen during 2001, which were divided into three groups: malingering workers (MW), workers without disability (WOD), and workers with disability (WWD). We administered the Z Test for scaled variables and Z2 Test for nominal variables to identify group differences
Results:
The incidence ofmalingering was of 2.2/100,000 workers. Mean age was 41.9 +/- 10.1 years, 440 was the average number of days of labor disability; 51 (37%) workers were malingerers. 35 (26%) workers were work disabled and 50 (37%) without disability. Malingerers had higher level of schooling compared with WOD and WWD (p < 0.02); most worked at the Social Security (p < 0.05), with lower number of previous jobs (p < 0.05), presented longer work disability (p < 0.05). Depressive symptoms were not frequently noted (p < 0.025) and all had normal electroencephalogram and brain computed tomography studies.
Conclusions:
Malingering workers who request work disability pensions follow a particular pattern that differs from other workers that request disability assessment at the Social Security Institute of Mexico.
