Absenteeism among National Health Service workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal

Abstract

By March 2020, the first COVID-19 cases were detected in Portugal. Anecdotal evidence showed that the National Health Service absenteeism rate rose. The present study aimed to quantify and characterize the absenteeism rate among these healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. This study used data from the Portuguese National Health Service Transparency Portal for the number of National Health Service workers and absence days (2015 - 2021). Absenteeism was compared, before and after the pandemic onset, in absolute terms, and as absenteeism rates. Additionally, we performed an interrupted time series analysis, by fitting a Poisson regression model with level change. We controlled for data seasonality using Fourier terms. The results showed that, between 2015 and March 2020, the average monthly absenteeism rate was of 12.2%, rising to 14.5% in the subsequent period. This represented an increase of 19% in the absenteeism rate. The interrupted time series analysis showed an increase of 10.8% in the National Health Service absenteeism rate after the pandemic onset [relative risk = 1.10; 95% CI 1.10 - 1.11; p < 0.01]. When accounting for seasonality in the data, the interrupted time series analysis showed an increase of 11.0% in the National Health Service absenteeism rate [relative risk = 1.11; 95% CI 1.00 - 1.23; p < 0.05]. These results suggest an increased number of days of absence rate among the National Health Service healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.