Duración de las licencias médicas FONASA por trastornos mentales y del comportamiento

background: in chile, the number of sick leaves due to mental health problems has systematically increased in recent years. aim: to perform an analysis of sick leaves due to mental problems managed by the fondo nacional de salud (fonasa) during 2008. material and methods: analysis of all sick leaves awarded during 2008for mental or behavioral problems, that were managed at fonasa. a negative binomial regression, was performed to predict the effects of different variables on the total duration of sick leaves. results: a total of546,477 sick leaves were awarded to 198,752 individuals (2.27per subject). the mean duration of each leave was 15.6 days. summing all leaves, the lapse off work was 98 ± 96 days (median 65 days). women had longer leaves than men. the type of medical leave, occupation, working for private or public institutions, economic activity and diagnosis were significantly associated with duration of time off work. conclusions: sick leaves for mental problems are prolonged and related to gender and socioeconomic variables.