According to the Social Insurance Institution, 5.1 million medical certificates of temporary inability to work were registered in the first two months of 2023. What was the most common cause of sickness absences?
SOCIAL SECURITY: The number of sick leaves is increasing
Published April 17, 2023 08:09
Fot. Franciszek Mazur / Agencja Gazeta
The latest Social Security data shows that the most common cause of absenteeism was respiratory illness.
Compared to the same period in 2022. Social Security reported a significant increase in both the number of days of sickness absence, up 8.6 percent, and the number of medical certificates, up 16.1 percent.
In February 2023, 2.4 million medical certificates of temporary inability to work were registered for a total of 24 million days of sickness absence (due to own illness, child care and care of another family member). Compared to January 2023, the number of days of sickness absence fell by 12.9 percent, and the number of medical certificates fell by 9.9 percent, while both the number of days of absenteeism and the number of medical certificates rose by 7.1 percent compared to February 2022, and the number of medical certificates rose by 15.5 percent. - says Prof. Gertruda Uścińska, president of the Social Insurance Institution.
On average, we stayed on sick leave for 10.31 days. The cumulative (since the beginning of the year) average length of sickness absence was 16.19 days (15.92 days for men and 16.41 days for women). In the corresponding period of 2022, these figures were respectively: 17.44 days, 16.74 days and 18 days.
The most common disease causes of absenteeism were respiratory diseases - 20.6 percent of the total number of days of absenteeism (8.7 million days of sickness absence), musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases - 15.8 percent. (6.7 million days), pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium - 13.7 percent (5.8 million days), injuries, poisoning and other specified effects of external agents - 11.8 percent (5.0 million days), and mental and behavioral disorders - 9.8 percent (4.2 million days).
The predominant cause of absenteeism was respiratory diseases. Compared to the same period last year, there is a noticeable increase in the number of sickness absence days in this disease group - by 5.7 percentage points (i.e. 47.9 percent). However, there are 2.2 percentage points fewer days of sickness absence due to pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium. As for mental and behavioral disorders, there is a noticeable slight increase in the number of sickness absence days by 0.1 percentage points (i.e., by 7.8 percent).
In January and February 2023, 66,200 medical certificates issued for the COVID-19 disease unit were registered, for a total of 435,700 days of sickness absence.
Source: ZUS
