Disability status due to occupational diseases: Ukraine, 2015-2018

Abstract

The economic burden of disability due to occupational diseases is significant: the economic losses "due to health problems related to work" in the developed world exceed 1,25 trillion US dollars and amount to 4 to 6% of GDP. A large number of employees work in Ukraine in unfavorable conditions. The study analyzes the dynamics of disability due to occupational diseases in Ukraine for the period from 2015 to 2018 using the example of Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Donetsk regions. The results of the study proved that the indicators of disability due to occupational diseases in these areas have a pronounced upward trend. It has been determined that the number of injured or aggrieved persons who received occupational diseases in the Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Donetsk regions is 78.5% of the total number of those in Ukraine with occupational diseases. The proportion of those who were initially recognized as disabled due to occupational diseases increased in 2015-2018, increased in these areas and amounted in absolute numbers: in the Dnipropetrovsk region –  906 people (2018) against 705 people (2016); in the Lviv region – 273 people against 239 people, respectively; in Donetsk region – 193 people against 108 people, respectively. Primary disability rate for 2015-2018 period increased by 28.5% in Dnepropetrovsk to almost 50% in Donetsk region. The proportion of those who were initially recognized as disabled due to work injury in the Dnipropetrovsk region was 159 people (2018) against 123 people (2016); in the Lviv region: 42 people against 11 people, respectively; in the Donetsk region: 28 people against 11 people, respectively. The rate of primary disability due to work injury also increased by 29.2% in the Dnipropetrovsk region and by 53% in the Donetsk region. The number of persons with disabilities recognized for the first time depended on age and length of service in hazardous conditions. Persons with 10-19 years of work experience in 2015-2018 accounted for 89.2%. According to our data, 50.1% of workers aged 40 to 49 years are recognized as persons with disabilities, 40% – from 50 to 59 years of age. It is important that in 2018 in 5% of cases, an occupational disease caused disability among workers at the age of 39. In 2018 (as in 2016 and in 2017) in Ukraine, the main conditions that resulted in occupational diseases were: imperfection of mechanisms and working tools – 23.9%; the imperfection of the technological process - 19.5% and the ineffectiveness of the personal protective equipment – 13.5% of their total number. In the structure of disability due to occupational diseases, diseases of the musculoskeletal system occupied the 1st place; 2nd place – respiratory diseases; 3rd place – injuries and poisoning.