[Degenerative diseases of the spine and their effect on work capacity]

The most frequent diseases of the locomotive system encountered in assessing the ability to work are discussed. From 1981 to 1982, the investigation was carried out on insured persons with pathologic changes in their locomotive system. The subjects belonged to three different environments, thus, making three representative samples. The clinical data on the insured persons of sample N1 were supplied through the past medical history, clinical examinations of the insured persons and from the survey of the medical documentation. The data on the sample N2 and N3 were obtained from the Central Service Information Centre of the Community for Pension and Disability Insurance of Croatia, Zagreb. Degenerative changes in the locomotive system (70%), primarily in the spine (90%), appeared most frequently in all the three samples, and were practically on the same percentage level. After analysing the assessments of the ability to work of all the insured persons with degenerative spine changes, it was found out that there were significant qualitative and quantitative differences in the disability evaluations for all the three samples. The author concludes that significant deviations in the scale of the ability to work assessment are considerably due to various assessment criteria.