Abstract
Objective:
to describe the incomplete filling out of the profession/occupation variable in the flu-like syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome and mortality databases in Brazil.
Methods:
descriptive study with secondary data from flu-like syndrome (FLS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and mortality databases (SIM). We calculeted the absolute and relative filling frequencies of the profession/occupation variable according to State, gender, regions, and federative units, for 2020 and 2021.
Results:
we found a 94.7% incompleteness on the FLS database, 97.7% of missing profession/occupation data on the SARS, and 17.0% on the SIM database. Incompleteness frequency was above 91.0% in all Brazilian regions for FLS and SARS. Incompleteness on the mortality database was over 13.0%. All federative units presented incompleteness above 90.0% for FLS, 74.0% for SARS, and 6.8% for mortality in all genders. Higher levels of missing data were found in the states of Amapá for FLS (98.1%), Rio Grande do Sul for SARS and Alagoas (45.0%) for mortality (99.4%).
Conclusions:
all databases showed a high incompleteness of the profession/occupation variable. We recommend an articulation between the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and workers’ representations to solve this lack of data on occupation/profession in public databases.
Keywords:
epidemiologic surveillance; occupational health; descriptive epidemiology; severe acute respiratory syndrome; mortality registries