[Illness-related premature unfitness for work among civil servants in Bavaria - an evaluation in the social medical field]

Abstract

In a prospective study, over a period of four years 11,528 anonymous questionnaires concerning premature unfitness for work among civil servants were evaluated. The questionnaire was devised by the investigators. The main items of interest were: age, sex, career and occupation, main diagnosis and accompanying symptoms, duration of illness, rehabilitation measures, and working capacity including medical assessment of unfitness for work. Included in this study were 9,348 investigations (excluded were reactivations); 40.9 % were from women and 58.9 % from men. The median age was 54 years (women 52, men 55). The range of illnesses among all those investigated included a large number of psychological disorders (43.3 %, n = 4,052) (diagnosis group F of ICD-10). Second place was taken by muscular/skeletal diseases (ICD-10 group M) in 17.4 % of cases (n = 1,630), and third place by cardiovascular diseases (ICD-10 group I) in 10.4 % of cases (n = 972). The median duration of the main disease was 24 months. Classified as no longer fit for work were n = 7,033 persons, corresponding to 75.2 % of those investigated. Among those unfit for work, psychological disorders were the reason in 46.2 % of cases (men 42.6 %, women 53.4 %). In this first prospective study of illness-related premature unfitness for work in civil servants, psychological and psychosomatic illnesses were found to be the 'number one' illness among persons taking early retirement. The median age at which these persons became unfit for work was 52 in women and 55 in men. In view of the high prevalence of psychological disorders, and the increasing tendency towards early retirement and the considerable jump forward in the age this happens compared to in previous studies with small collectives, a preventive strategy must be developed which takes into account the evidence gained in social-medical and occupational-medical practice.