Kontakt 2011, 13(3):298-307 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2011.035

Most frequent causes of incapacity to work in the Czech RepublicHealth and Social Sciences - Original article

Ljiljana Bojičová^*, Věra Adámková

Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, katedra klinických a preklinických oborů

The incapacity to work is a complex phenomenon exerting impacts on individuals as well as on the whole society. Its effects are present in health, economic as well as social spheres and its development depends on many factors, but the most frequent causes of the incapacity to work are ever the same with variations in their ratios and order only. The target of the work presented here was to identify main causes of the short-term and long-term incapacity to work over a period of five consecutive years and evaluate their social and economic impacts. The analyzed group of incapacitated persons included insurants whose policy was administrated by the Czech Administration of Social Security in terms of the short-term incapacity (sickness insurance - over four million insurants annually) as well as long-term incapacity to work (disability insurance - over 47 newly recognized disability cases annually). The data were taken from statistics published by the Czech Administration of Social Security and Institute for Medical Information and Statistics.
The incapacity to work is inter alia affected by other than medical causes. Long-term monitoring indicates that the main causes of the short-term incapacity to work (temporary incapacity to work) in the Czech Republic are diseases of the respiratory tract and locomotor apparatus, the main cause of the long-term incapacity to work being diseases of the locomotor apparatus and next to them diseases of the circulation system.
Effects of the social and economic situation on the incapacity to work also cannot be omitted. The situation in the development of both short-term and long-term incapacity to work is worse in regions with low social level of the population, and small differences between wages (in low-income inhabitants) and sickness or disability benefits play a relatively important role in the development of the incapacity to work.
There is undoubtedly an important impact of the incapacity to work on the situation of insurants as well as on the whole society in terms of economic and social conditions. Particularly the long-term incapacity to work principally involves the quality of life of the individual with frequent damage to social and family bonds and in extreme cases even with lost motivation to further life. The general economic impact on the society is also of importance, which is shown by increasing amounts paid in association with the short-term and long-term incapacity to work (sickness and disability benefits, respectively).
In addition to permanent enhancements of the public education and improvements of the health care, it is also necessary to improve further social and economic factors, particularly those associated with the long-term, incapacity to work, to improve the situation in the development of the incapacity to work and reduce social expenses.

Keywords: short-term and long-term incapacity to work; disability; health condition; quality of life

Received: December 8, 2010; Accepted: May 24, 2011; Published: September 29, 2011  Show citation