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Copyright of Revista de Derecho de la Seguridad Social, Laborum is the property of Ediciones Laborum S.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acciones e Investigaciones Sociales is the property of Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y del Trabajo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Occupational Safety and Health Management System is not only a legal requirement in Colombia, but it is also a strategic necessity for companies to achieve higher quality and productivity in the market. In addition, for the country, it is vital for the promotion of health and the reduction of economic losses related to sick leave due to accidents at work and occupational diseases. However, the reality is that the costs of this are seen as a burden for many businessmen and the lack of knowledge regarding its benefits make it not to be implemented in most companies, mainly in those recognized as MSMEs, which leads to a higher degree of vulnerability when exposing their workers to labor activities in different work environments, Therefore, this article analyzes six models used at international level and a seventh model with the methodology proposed by the Institución Universitaria Antonio José Camacho for the design of the SG-SST through its Environmental Health and Productivity Research Group -GISAP - and the -SEGSST- Occupational Safety and Health Management Hotbed, which is based on scientific grounds, but which aims to be accessible to micro-entrepreneurs, and thus, bridge the vulnerability gap raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of e-Revista Internacional de la Protección Social is the property of e-Revista Internacional de la Proteccion Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Enfermería Nefrológica is the property of Sociedad Espanola de Enfermeria Nefrologica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Académica Internacional de Educación Física is the property of Asociacion Cientifica Internacional de Educacion Fisica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Ankle fractures are among the most frequent fractures in the lower limb, predominantly affecting young people and representing approximately 9% of all fractures. Objective: To identify the factors associated with functionality in patients with closed ankle fracture. Material and methods: Observational and retrospective study. Records of people with a diagnosis of ankle fractures admitted to rehabilitation between January to December 2020 in a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit of a third level hospital were included. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), days of disability, mechanism of injury, type of treatment, length of stay in rehabilitation, type of fracture and functionality were captured. Chi-squared and Student's t test were used to determine the association. Subsequently a multivariate analysis with binary logistic regression was performed. Results: The average age of the subjects was 44.8 years, the female sex was presented in 54.7%, the average BMI was 28.8%, 66% carried out a paid work activity, 65% received surgical treatment, the average time of disability was 140 days, the factors associated with functionality independently were age, pain, dorsiflexion and plantar flexion upon admission to rehabilitation. Conclusions: Ankle fractures occur in a young population and the factors associated with functionality were age, dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, and pain upon admission to rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The impact of the sick-leaves for COVID-19 has required the adaptation of the health services, specially of those that are residential because it need continuous presence of professionals. There is not exist studies about sick leaves in centres for drug-dependence treatment. Objectives: To analyse sick leave episodes of practitioners of different services specialised in drug-dependence treatment and to compare their differences between years 2019 and 2020. The Chi square test was used to contrast hypotheses. Method: 37 centers managed for 17 institutions proportioned a list of sick leaves. General data (as the different typology of sick leaves) were compared. Results: 587 sick leaves were registered (221 in the year 2019 and 366 in the year 2020). The 46.7% of the sick leaves of the year 2020 were related with COVID-19. Sick leaves related with physical health were reduced a 10.5% (X²=1.85; df=1; p<.001), sick leaves related with mental or emotional health were reduced a 72.7% (X²=10.23; df=1; p=.001) and the sick leaves related with family organization responsibilities increased a 27.3%, though there weren't statistic differences in this case (X²=0.449; df=1; p=0.503). Conclusion: The pandemic increases the sick-leaves related with COVID-19 or with preventive confinement. In the other hand the pandemic reduces the number of sick-leaves related with other health problems and mental health or emotional issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Salud Uninorte is the property of Fundacion Universidad del Norte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Investigación en Salud VIVE is the property of Revista de Investigacion en Salud VIVE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this article is to determine why public employees in Colombia should be granted a leave of absence for dysmenorrhea, due to the recognition of women as subjects of special protection in the Colombian legal system. For the development of the research, a methodology with a legal hermeneutic approach was used through a theoretical-documental analysis; applying the exegetical and systematic method to study the Colombian normative framework that regulates the protection of women and the conditions for granting work leaves as administrative situations, which are proper to public employees in this country. Through the analysis of the norms in force in the legal system, the jurisprudential decisions in Colombia on the subject under study and the case of the Court of Administrative Justice of the State of Mexico, it is possible to demonstrate the viability of this new type of leave for those public employees who medically prove that they suffer from dysmenorrhea; indicating also that this leave must be periodic and cannot be understood as a sick leave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional y Comparada de Relaciones Laborales y Derecho del Empleo is the property of ADAPT University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Low back pain is a major occupational health problem internationally, representing 12.5% of sick leave. When making its diagnosis, we must take into account the so-called red-flags or warning signs that indicate the possibility of developing a serious disease that requires an emergent therapeutic approach. The treatment of low back pain should begin in Primary Care with education and exercise, nonpharmacological therapies, analgesic medications and empowering the patient, without offering false expectations. NSAIDs are recommended by the Clinical Practice Guidelines as the drug of choice in the treatment of low back pain. The most widely used NSAID in our environment continues to be ibuprofen, with proven efficacy and safety. The combination of ibuprofen-arginine accelerates the absorption, increases the efficacy and improves the safety of ibuprofen, obtaining a faster and longer duration analgesia. Orally administered ibuprofen- arginine is a therapeutic alternative to parenteral analgesics in the treatment of acute low back pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo is the property of Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo - Instituto de Salud Carlos III and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo is the property of Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo - Instituto de Salud Carlos III and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: We describe time trend incidence (2009-2018) of non-work related Sickness Absence (SA) segmented by duration of episodes in Spain. Methods: We used SA cases from a health insurance company ("mutua") in Spain. Overall non-work related SA incidence and incidence by duration of episodes (1-3 days, 4-15 days, 16-30 days, 31-90 days and> 90 days) were obtained. A time series ecological study was carried out with an inflection point in 2013. The annual percentage of change and 95% confidence interval were obtained. The analyses were stratified by age and sex. Results: Overall incidence went from 35.3 cases per 100 workers-years in 2009 to 25.2 in 2013. From 2014, there is a sustained rise in the incidence of ITCC, ending 2018 with 34.1 cases per 100 workers-years. The overall incidence is determined mainly by processes less than 16 days in young population. The decrease in 2009-2013 occurred in all the duration segments, especially in 4 to 15 (APC=-11,2; 95% CI=(-14,1 a -8,2)) and more than 90 days (APC =-9,4; 95% CI =(-15,5 a -2,8)), mainly in young people. The rise in 2013-2018 was observed in all the segments, with the largest significant increase in sections of 1-3 days (younger workers: APC =18,9; 95% CI =(14,8 a 23,2)) and in more than 90 days (mainly in older ones). Time trend of SA showed similar pattern in both sexes. Conclusions: Time trend analysis of SA incidence by duration segments offers a detailed information of SA. These results are useful for professionals in the prevention and management of SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo is the property of Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo - Instituto de Salud Carlos III and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo is the property of Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo - Instituto de Salud Carlos III and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Different countries have shown an inverse relationship between unemployment rates (UR) and indicators of sickness absence during periods of economic recession. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between indicators of sickness absence and unemployment in Spain during 2009-2015. Methods: We obtained incidence and absenteeism rates of non-work related sickness absence (NWSA) from Social Security data, and UR from the National Institute of Statistics. The relationship between indicators of NWSA and UR in the period 2009 to 2015 was graphically described using time trend plots. Scatter plots of NWSA indicators were also made against UR. Finally, we fitted linear regression models. Results: Incidence (IR) and absenteeism rates (AR) of NWSA showed downward trends in 2009-2013 (IR 2009=28.07%, IR 2013=20.41%; AR 2009=2.53% and AR 2013=1.86%), changing to an upward trend up to 2015 (IR 2015=22.52%, AR 2015=2.12%). Unemployment rates trended upward in 2009-2013 (UR 2009=17.86%, UR 2013=26.10%), and then changed to a downward trend through 2015 (UR 2015=22.06%). There was an inverse relationship between UR and NWSA indicators. Conclusions: As in previous international studies, we found an inverse relationship between unemployment rates and indicators of sickness absence in Spain. More detailed studies are needed to evaluate explanatory hypotheses, such as those associated with the effects of discipline, selection and/or changes in the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chikungunya fever (CHIK) generally causes temporary sick leave, affecting groups of productive age, which represents a significant economic impact from the labor point of view. The objective was to estimate costs of disability due to chikungunya in the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Guerrero, Mexico. Methods: Cost assessment of working population from IMSS in Guerrero who met the definition of case for CHIK and took sick leave, which was registered in the Original Disability Certificates (OCI, according to its initials in Spanish) processed from January to April, 2015. Paid sick days were multiplied by the current minimum wage of the municipality of Acapulco (geographical area A, general = $ 70.10: seventy pesos with 10 cents per day]). Results: Of all the OCIs, 31.5% (38 271/12 062) met the criteria for CHIK with a total of 41 197 prescribed days and 14 941 paid sick days with an estimated cost of 2 397 393.40 pesos (two million, three hundred and ninety seven thousand, three hundred and ninety three dollars and forty cents). Conclusions: Sick leaves increase the costs in health systems. These costs increase as increases the number of days granted. The average number of days granted is consistent with the information published in different articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Spanish, the concepts of discapacidad (disability leave) and incapacidad (sick leave) jointly refer to the impairment of a person due to injuries, diseases or deficiencies that limit their activity in a social, personal or occupational field. However, this common link does not imply that both concepts are the same. Statistical data from INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Statistic National Institute) show that Spain had in 2015 3.85 million persons with a disability (59.8% were women). Statistical data from 2015 from INSS (Instituto Nacional de Seguridad Social: Social Security National Institute) show high levels in the number of processes and in workers affected by temporary sick leave, with social costs to the social security system. Both concepts have been updated: about disability leave, Law 39/2006 adjusted terminology by avoiding the use of concepts with discriminating or pejorative connotation. Regarding sick leave, the Ley General de Seguridad Social (General Social Security Law) has been amended and came into effect in January, 2016. It is necessary to know and distinguish these aspects for a better administrative management, and a more oriented information to the affected patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo is the property of Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo - Instituto de Salud Carlos III and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: We describe the usefulness of performing an analysis of sickness absence (SA) incidence, segmented by the duration of episodes, in comparison with the more common analysis that considers the overall incidence of SA without segmentation. Methods: We used data from a health insurance company ("mutua") in Spain during 2011 (230,332 episodes, 752,906 workers) and non-work related SA as a case study. We compared the overall incidence of SA and incidence segmented by duration of episodes: short (≤ 15 days), medium (16-30 and 31-90 days) and long (> 90 days). The analyses were also performed by age, as an example of one of the multiple variables that affect SA incidence. Results: The overall incidence of SA was 30.6%, and declined steadily with increasing age. When SA incidence was analyzed by duration, we observed that: 1) the incidence of the episodes of short duration is the highest; 2) the overall excess observed in younger workers (<25 years) is driven mainly by short duration and 3) the pattern for long-term SA incidence was reversed, being more frequent among those ≥55 years of age relative to the youngest. Conclusions: Examining SA incidence by duration is more informative than relying on overall incidence of SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The relationship among labor difficulties and psychiatric disorders is important and bidirectional. However, current information about the influence of psychiatric disorders in temporary work disability in Spain is inconclusive. For this reason, we aimed to describe the prevalence of the conclusions of psychiatric expert's reports including maintain o revoke the temporary disability (TD). We also aimed to compare sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic variables according with the decision of maintain or revoke this condition. Methodology. A descriptive study was conducted in psychiatric patients that were examined by psychiatric experts during one year. At the examination time, the patients had a sick leave mean of 5 months. The psychiatric experts assessed their ability to work according to the interference of the psychiatric symptoms. Results. A total of 380 patients were included (66.8% women, 42±10.9 years), 87.9% had a result of revoke the temporary work disability. No sociodemographic or therapeutic factors were associated with the continuity of sick leave. The most common diagnosis of patients who obtained a revoked temporary work disability was adjustment disorder (66.2% vs 13%, p=0.001) and patients who maintained the temporary work disability was major depressive disorder (45.7% vs 3.9%, p=0.001). Conclusions. After a psychiatric expert's examination the most of the results suggest to revoke the temporary work disability. Major depressive disorder is the most commonly diagnostic associated to continue sick leave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Medicina y Seguridad del Trabajo is the property of Escuela Nacional de Medicina del Trabajo - Instituto de Salud Carlos III and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ciencia & Trabajo is the property of Fundacion Cientifica y Tecnologica de la Asociacion Chilena de Seguridad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: Incapacity is defined as the temporary or permanent state of a person who, by accident or illness, is impaired in its ability to work. In Spain, the declaration of a sick leave worker is made by the Primary Care Public Health System doctor, corresponding to each region, issue the corresponding sick leave report. To encode the clinical causes of sick leave, the ICD code is taken as basis, acronym for international Classification of Diseases. Materials and methods: Sick leave data are collected under the INSS headaches during 2012, based on ICD codes related to clinical coding concept globally headache: number of processes, lost days due to sick leave, have the longest mean average duration of processes, always in reference to those who are considered closed within one year of study. Results: The greater number of processes is correlated with the codes that relate to migraine and its various types. Tension-type headaches, despite being the group with the lowest number of processes, are the most average duration (17 days) in each month of the year. The mixed group of headaches encompasses more than half of the total lost days, 74,119 days, ranking second group of migraine with 58,295 days of sick leave. Conclusion: A correct clinical coding allows for greater accuracy and diagnostic and therapeutic specificity and avoids or limits the loss of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand injuries are some of the most commonly treated injuries at trauma emergency services. Their treatment may be costly and even more so when inappropriate treatment results in complications. The amount paid for the treatment of this kind of injuries may increase dramatically if one considers the direct costs (medical care) and the indirect costs (compensation-loss of profits) resulting from the severity of damage and its sequelae. The objective of this paper is to reveal certain figures that help measure the economic impact that these injuries represent and find ways to optimize resources, minimize costs and improve the care of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cirugía y Cirujanos is the property of Publicidad Permanyer SLU and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the research conducted regarding adjustment disorders caused by non-work-related diseases. The authors comment on mental illness as a major attribute of employee's use of sick leave, particularly in developed countries, and describes their social and economic impact. They also examine employee sick leave behavior at the Spanish company Ibermutuamur.

Copyright of Universitas Médica is the property of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of the current study is to examine the efficacy of a mindfulness training program to reduce the levels of teacher stress and the days of sick leave taken by a group of teachers. The sample comprised 31 teachers of Secondary School Education, who were randomly allocated; 16 of them formed the experimental group and the 15 remaining the control group. The levels of teacher stress were measured by the Teacher Stress Scale (ED- 6) before and after the application of the programme. Statistical analysis shows the significant reduction of levels of teacher stress and the number of days of sick leave, as well as in three dimensions of the ED-6 (pressure, demotivation, and coping poorly) in the experimental group compared with the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to determine the factors associated with a labor longer inability (LLI) due to a laboral accident. Methods: a cases and controls study was made. All the patients who presented an inability certificate for over thirty days due to a laboral accident were included. The socio-demographic, laboral characteristics and diagnoses were analyzed. A bivariate statistical analysis was made. Results: there were 32 cases; average age was 34 years; 27 were men (84.4 %) and 5 women (15.6 %); the predominant schooling was the upper middle level in 40 %, the economical level was poor in 40 %, the 19.1 % worked as a store assistant. The anatomic region most affected was the wrist-hand in 19 cases (27.9 %) and the more frequent diagnoses were: injuries 33 %, fractures 32.4 % and inadequate skills 23.5 %. Associated factors were the lack of training (OR: 1.6 IC: 1.08-2.47), working in the afternoon or at night shift (OR: 4.19 CI: 1.04-20 .07) and being a man (OR: 1.4 CI: 0.66-2.9). Conclusions: It was observed that sex, not training and the schedule of working were associated with a LLI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of workers' temporal incapacity over their holidays rights are very diverse. While some of these effects have already been solved by the Courts (for example, the fact that during the incapacity period, holiday rights still emerge), some of them have suffered from a incoherent juditial criteria. Examples of this are the problem of the maintainment of the holiday rights when concurring with the incapacity period, alongside with the problem of the temporal displacement of the holidays due to the incapacity period until the end of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental workload is one of the most important psychosocial risk factors. It is defined in terms of the difference between the worker's resources and job demands. Overload and underload conditions cause problems in workers' performance and health. In this paper, the appraisal of workload is compared among two groups of workers (those who had versus those who had not suffered at least one medical problem during the previous year). The NASA-TLX instrument was administered to a sample of 509 workers in order to assess mental workload. Results show that, in general, workers who have been on sick leave perceive higher levels of mental workload, especially in terms of effort, mental demand and frustration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to evaluate the impact of preventive pro- grams at enterprises affiliated to the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) during 2004. Methods: transversal study in 987 enterprises. Variables: laboral injuries (LI) of temporal disability, permanent disability and death. Analysis: simple and relative frequencies, rates and Anova application to differences. Results: 64.4% of the enterprises decrease LI (p < 0.04), with a decrement of 2602 LI (16 %); the rate of LI per 100 workers low down from 4.19 to 3.60 (p < 0.08), with a decrease of 43 369 disability days (10.93%) which represents $8 456 955 MXP. States with more decreasing were: Queretaro (80%) p < 0.05; Sinaloa (63%) p < 0.05, and Morelos (61%) p < 0.05. Permanent incapacities diminished at 12.1%, p < 0.09; the rate of permanent disability per 1000 workers diminishes from 1.37 to 1.32 and death cases increased from 42 to 49. Conclusions: the expenses on consultancy by IMSS was estimated on $9 341 955 MXP. The savings on temporal and permanent incapacities was on $33 691 255 MXP with a cost containment of $19 701 310 MXP. Preventive programs are profitable, because they generate benefits to the workers, the IMSS and the enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Following the latest examination of the worldwide mental health situation, the World Health Organization has estimated that depression produces the greatest decrement in health compared with other chronic diseases, and has encouraged to all countries to increase investment and resources in this field. Methodology. On investing resources for the care of patients with depression, cost of illness studies are a complement to morbidity-mortality studies, and are of great relevance in defining health care policies. The present study describes the economic impact of depression in our setting, in the light of the most recent publications on this subject. Results. The total cost of depression in Europe has been estimated to reach 118 billion euros, and most of this amount (61 %) is due to indirect costs associated with sick leave and productivity losses. The economic burden of depression in Spain could add up to 5.005 million euros a year, with a resource category distribution very similar to that found in Europe as a whole. Conclusions. Health care systems and society must cope with the important costs of depression, which implies intense resource utilization, fundamentally outside the health care sector as such. There are a number of areas in which improvements can be made in order to reduce this important burden associated with depression, though the incorporation of health economics to public health care policies must become a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low back pain affects around 70-80 percent of general population during lifetime, 15 percent of which have a clear source whereas the rest is considered non-specific or unclassifiable --and the conventional treatment has traditionally failed. The aetiology of non-specific low back pain is associated with biological, psychological and social factors along with factors such as pain behaviour and other learning processes which also influence their chronic process. Low back pain is the main cause of absenteeism --which increases costs and worsens quality of life. In order to improve efficiency, avoid chronification and reduce costs, clinical treatments should be integrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The repercussion of health-disease state on social life or individual includes his/her work performance. In many countries, social security is one of the options for diffusing and buffering the impact of the disease. This paper is focused on the analysis of the unjustified prescription of temporary sick leave certificates (CITT), which combines the social security medical components and economic benefits (subsidies). The objective is to analyze the mechanism of prescription of CITT from the perspective of health economics and health care services. The detailed flow of CITT at the Mexican Institute of Social Security is described, as are some concepts of the health economics perspective that contribute to explain the prescription of CITT. Statistical data of sick leaves due to work-related and non-work-related diseases are presented from the institutional perspective. Finally, it is emphasized that although CITT are a medical prescription, it is advisable to take into account the economic perspective and its concepts in order to achieve an efficient use of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]