[Sick leave during pregnancy: an analysis of French hospitals from 2005 until 2008 demonstrates the major importance for jobs with physical demands].
BACKGROUND
sick-leave in the course of pregnancy play a role under estimated according to several studies.They bring to light the existence of risk factors concerning the physical load for contractions, sick-leave, hospitalizations and prematurity.The data obtained on the totality of the wage earners of the AP-HP allow to avoid all the possible bias and to determine the potential impact of a policy of reduction of the physical load


METHODS
The data of four years could be analyzed.The used database is PILOT RH, intranet application restoring information extracted from GIPSIE who was until 2008 the institutional software of management of the careers of all the workers of the AP-HP.


RESULTS
In 2008,3 937 women having had a maternity leave (ML) accumulated 132 360 days of ordinary sick-leave (OL) (that is 33,6 days on average) without inclusion of the 15 days accepted for "pathological pregnancy" (PP) and "post pregnancy leave". Ordinary sick-leave of all the 53 132 women amounts to 11.5 days by agent. But, the set apart of the women having had a ML reduces the number of days of sick-leave to 9,7 days This difference weighs for 15.6 % of the total of the absenteeism OL. The results are similar on the four years. The analysis by occupational catégory, for 2008, shows that the average number of days of sick-leave, after exclusion of women having had a ML, decreases with the physical load of the posts estimated by the study PRESST-NEXT :ancillary staff 19.9 days, nursing aids 13.7 days, registered nurses 8.2 days, specialized nurses 7.7 days, medico - technical workers 5.7 days and head nurses 5.1 days. For the women having had a ML, the average number of days of ordinary sick-leave, is the most raised for nursing aids (41.9 days) followed by the ancillary staff (36 days) and the registered nurses (36 days) and slightly less for the specialized nurses (28.3 days). On the other hand, in the professions having least physical load the women have less than 25 days of ordinary sick-leave the year of their pregnancy :medico-technical workers 21.3 days, head nurses 23.1 days and administration staff 23.7 days.The results are similar on the four years. For the nurses, it is 25.5% of total ordinary sick-leave that are attributable to the women having had a pregnancy, and 34.4 % if we add OL and 15 days of official "pathological pregnancy".


CONCLUSIONS
An intervention to reduce the physical load in test hospitals could be led.The reduction of sick-leave in the course of pregnancy can be a fast indicator of evaluation of the efficiency of the investments. The improvements will benefit to all the agents, in the medium term, with a reduction of the risks of musculoskeletal disorders. Such an action also allows to maintain the employability of the older employees and to integrate) persons into situation of handicap in a work which has for them a strong sense and which they do not want to give up.
Université de Paris, France. madeleine.estryn@yahoo.fr
Madeleine
M
Estryn-Behar
Emile
E
Amar
Dominique
D
Choudat
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D011247:Pregnancy; D018582:Sick Leave; D016526:Workload; D055815:Young Adult