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Table 1 Number of sick leaves availed in years (2019–2021) by the sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for sick leave

From: Sickness absenteeism among primary health care workers in Qatar before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Characteristics

2019 No (%)

2020 No (%)

2021 No (%)

P-value‡§

Age categories

Less than 30

3008 (23.2)

3027 (22.3)

3238 (22.1)

 < 0.001

30–39

5495 (42.4)

6025 (44.4)

6082 (41.6)

40–49

2991 (23.1)

3153 (23.3)

3597 (24.6)

50 or more

1451 (11.2)

1352 (10.0)

1713 (11.7)

Gender

Female

9407 (72.7)

10,247 (75.6)

11,010 (75.3)

 < 0.001

Male

3538 (27.3)

3310 (24.4)

3620 (24.7)

Nationality*

Expatriate

7170 (55.4)

8478 (62.5)

8227 (56.2)

 < 0.001

Local

5775 (44.6)

5079 (37.5)

6403 (43.8)

Profession

Allied and Others

8583 (66.3)

8393 (61.9)

9590 (65.6)

 < 0.001

Nurse

3092 (23.9)

3803 (28.1)

3600 (24.6)

Physician

1270 (9.8)

1361 (10.0)

1440 (9.8)

Employment type

Contracted

87 (0.7)

418 (3.1)

261 (1.8)

 < 0.001

Outsourced

344 (2.7)

361 (2.7)

193 (1.3)

Permanent

12,379 (95.6)

12,454 (91.9)

13,747 (94)

Temporary

135 (1.0)

324 (2.4)

429 (2.9)

Reason for sick leave

Respiratory related†

4252 (32.9)

3063 (22.4)

1616 (11.3)

 < 0.001

Back and/or neck related

1431 (11.1)

1475 (10.9)

2013 (14.1)

Gastroenteritis

932 (7.2)

647 (4.8)

793 (5.6)

Suspected or confirmed COVID-19

0 (0.0)

2144 (15.8)

2106 (14.8)

Contact with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case

0 (0.0)

108 (0.8)

112 (0.8)

Dental related

501 (3.9)

431 (3.2)

464 (3.3)

Pregnancy related

308 (2.4)

299 (2.2)

326 (2.3)

Mental related

94 (0.7)

87 (0.6)

99 (0.7)

Malaise, myalgia or fatigue

221 (1.7)

230 (1.7)

702 (4.8)

Tension type headache

302 (2.3)

351 (2.6)

472 (3.2)

Others

4905 (37.9)

4722 (34.8)

5927 (40.5)

  1. *More than 70 nationalities were reported
  2. †Not labelled as COVID-19 suspected or confirmed
  3. Using Chi square or Fisher exact test as appropriate
  4. §This should be interpreted giving the information that the proportions of the number of employees working at PHCC in each year across different levels of the categorical variables (Age categories, Gender, Nationality, Profession and employment type) are almost similar (less than 2% differences between any different combinations), for example the proportions of the number of employees of Allied health and others, nurses and physicians are [56.3, 30.8, 12.9] in 2019, [57.0, 30.4, 12.6] in 2020 and [57.4, 29.9, 12.7] in 2021
  5. This include the most common groups of complaints/diagnoses, “Other” category includes any complaint/diagnosis that are not related to those mentioned in the table above (hundreds different complaints/diagnoses) [most commonly: musculoskeletal problems not related to the back and neck, abdominal problems not related to gastroenteritis, surgical related problems, cardiovascular related problems, skin related problems…]. Note that family health issues are not recorded as sick leave and thus not included in our analysis