Eventos de vida produtores de estresse e acidentes de trabalho: Estudo Pró-Saúde, Rio de Janeiro - Brasil

Abstract

This Thesis focuses on epidemiology of occupational accidents by describing their association with life events and socio-demographic and occupational variables among employees of a university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two original papers form the core of the Thesis, the first describes the socioeconomic and occupational profile associated to specific types of occupational accidents, and the second investigates the association between life events and the occurrence of occupational accidents. Sectional data obtained from phase 2 of a prospective study (Estudo Pró-Saúde) were collected for 3,572 participants. The history of occupational accidents was obtained using dichotomous questions (yes/no) for the following types of injuries: needlestick; perforation by other objects; cut or laceration; burn; electric shock; contusion or bruise; fracture, dislocation or distortion; and poisoning. The period of recall for accidents and life events was the 12-month before answering the self-reported questionnaire. In the first paper we used multiple correspondence analysis to identify groups of participants regarding their socio-demographic and occupational profile related to accidents using the following variables: gender, age, literacy, income, occupational status, place of work and job sector. In the second paper the association of life events and work accidents was evaluated by multivariate generalized linear model (log-poisson), and the results expressed as adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). The total prevalence of accidents in the 12-month period was 25.6%. The most common accidents were contusions or fractures (10.2%) followed by needlesticks (6.5%). Results from correspondence analysis revealed three groups, the most prominent was the one composed by those with needle stick injuries, working at the university hospital as nurse assistants, located specifically at intensive care, surgical, ambulatory or emergency units. Regarding life events, being witness of aggression was the event more strongly associated to occupational accidents (PR= 1.98, 95%CI= 1.67; 2.34). This study highlighted important information about the association between socio-demographic, occupational and psychosocial characteristics and occupational accidents. This information might be used when defining strategies to prevent this important public health problem.