Profile of disability retirement among civil servants at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, 2012-2016

BACKGROUND: Disability retirement, an outcome of permanent incapacity for work, represents 14.5% of pensions granted by the Brazilian National Social Security Institute. However, there are no data available for civil servants. OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological profile of disability retirement among employees of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) in the period from 2012 to 2016. METHODS: Cross-sectional study in which we analyzed the following variables: age, sex, total working time, years of work at FIOCRUZ, position and reason for retirement as per ICD-10 codes. The significance level was set to p=0.05 and all the data are presented with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The prevalence of disability retirement in the analyzed period was 113/10,000 employees. Employees granted disability retirement benefits worked about 9 years less. Odds for disability were higher for technicians (prevalence ratio-PR=6.83) and technical assistants (PR=7.67). Mental and behavioral disorders were the main reason for disability retirement (38.71%). CONCLUSION: Noncommunicable diseases are the main cause of disability retirement. We call the attention to the need to revise the legislation that establishes mandatory retirement after 24 months of sick leave. An interdisciplinary occupational health surveillance approach is necessary to obtain accurate knowledge of the actual situation in workplaces and of the impacts of work processes.