title: Certification of occupational diseases as common diseases in a primary health care setting.
abstract: 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 musculoskeletal 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.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Health Research Unit, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. fernando.benavides@upf.edu
authors.forename: Fernando G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Benavides
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castejón
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gimeno
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Porta
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mestres
authors.forename: Pere
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Simonet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D018582:Sick Leave