AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE 47:176–180 (2005) Certification of Occupational Diseases as Common Diseases in a Primary Health Care Setting

Background It is often difficult to discern whether a disease is an occupational or common disease, especially in a primary care setting. Methods From a randomly selected sample of 322 workers attending a Primary Health Care Center, 207 workers (response rate of 64.3%) agreed to participate. An occupational questionnaire was administered. General practitioners provided medical records for each worker.Medical records and occupational questionnaires were independently reviewed by three professionals. They assessed whether a relationship between disease and working conditions was probable or improbable. Results Thirty-three of the 207 cases (15.9%) were considered probably related to working conditions according to the expert’s opinion. The most frequent were musculo-skeletal diseases (20 cases). Of the 207 workers, 74 (35.7%) judged that their diseases could be related to their working conditions. Conclusions A significant proportion of diseases attended in primary care setting was not recognized as occupational, and they were hence not reflected in official statistics. Am. J. Ind. Med. 47:176–180, 2005. 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc