[Disability in the private pension system in Chile].
BACKGROUND
The degree of disability of workers ascribed to the private allowances system in Chile, is judged by Medical Commissions that apply norms that establish percentages of incapacity, without considering prognosis.


OBJECTIVE
To communicate the causes of disability among Chilean workers ascribed to the private allowances system, their mortality and to correlate the causes of death with diagnoses.


METHODS
We analyzed 13,456 consecutive cases judged between August 1990 and April 1992. Mortality was registered up to 12 months after judgment.


RESULTS
Total incapacity was determined in 4,158 cases (30.9%), partial incapacity in 1,340 (9.9%) and minor incapacity in 7,958 (59.1%). Osteoarticular diseases were the main cause of disability in 4,460 patients (33.1%) and 77.8% of patients with malignant tumors were considered as having total incapacity. Mortality was 17% among subjects with total incapacity, 1.5% among those with partial disability and 1% among those with minor disability. The cause of death was related to the main disabling disease in 94% of subjects with total incapacity and 66.6% of those with partial incapacity.


CONCLUSIONS
Osteoarticular diseases are the main cause of inability among workers ascribed to a private pension system.
Zamora
L
L
Asociación de Aseguradores de Chile, Santiago de Chile.
Arellano
M
M
Kunstmann
S
S
Montenegro
A
A
Riveros
B
B
Schlegel
I
I
Silva
P
P
Vidal
C
C
D002677:Chile; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D018868:Insurance, Disability / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009026:Mortality; D010415:Pensions; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation