Sickness abenteeism of pregnant employees

Background: Medical supervisors of sickness absenteeism find frequent and long lasting sickness absences during pregnancy. They wanted to find reasons for these absences from work.Methods: Data about pregnant employees in Ljubljana region of the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia was collected for the year 2004. They were selected by chosen general practitioner, chosen obstetrician, age and causal diagnoses for sickness absenteeism.Results: In the year 2004 there were 1504 pregnant employees sickness absent from work (the number of births in the same region was 5044). The average length was 122.47 days (30– 414). The number of sickness absent pregnant employees differed much regarding the chosen general practitioner and chosen obstetrician. The most frequent age for sickness absenteeism was 30 years (155), the largest average duration was in pregnant women aged 36 years (288.77 days). The most frequent reason for sickness absenteeism was imminent abortion. Conclusions: Legislation in the Republic Slovenia protects pregnant employees against risks on their working places. Chosen general practitioners and chosen obstetricians are not familiar with it. The diagnosis Z 34.9 (healthy pregnancy) and combination with the described risk on the working place prove it. The relation between the risk factors and the consequent pathology of pregnancy should be evaluated with a special study. The opinions of the chosen obstetricians often lack clinical status. The diagnosis its elf and also the age of the pregnant employees are not enough for the decision about ability of the pregnant patients to work.