Prevalence of flu-like syndrome in healthcare workers in Brazil: a national study, 2020.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of reported symptoms of flu-like syndrome (FS) among HCW and compare HCW and non-HCW on the chance of reporting these symptoms, this study analyzed data of a population-based survey conducted in Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed with self-reported data from the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Covid-19) from May 2020. The authors analyzed a probability sample of 125,179 workers, aged 18 to 65, with monthly income lower than US$ 3 500. The variable HCW or non-HCW was the covariate of interest and having reported FS symptoms or not was the outcome variable. Authors tested interactions of HCW with other covariates. A logit model - when controlling for sociodemographic, employment, and geographic characteristics - investigated the chance of HCW reporting FS compared to non-HCW. RESULTS: HCW have a significant effect (odds ratio of 1.369) on reporting FS symptoms when compared to non-HCW. HCW account for 4.17% of the sample, with a higher frequency of FS (3.38%) than observed for non-HCW (2.43%). Female, non-white and older individuals had higher chance to report FS. CONCLUSIONS: The HCW had a higher chance of reporting symptoms than non-HCW aged over 18 years in the labor force. These results emphasize guidelines for preventive measures to reduce workplace exposures in the healthcare facilities. The prevalence is disproportionately affecting HCW women and HCW non-whites. In the regions North and Northeast the steeper progression is consistent with the hypothesis of socioeconomic factors, and it explains the greater prevalence in HCW and non-HCW living in those territories.

Prevalence of flu-like syndrome in healthcare workers in Brazil: a national study, 2020

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence of reported symptoms of flu-like syndrome (FS) among HCW and compare HCW and non-HCW on the chance of reporting these symptoms, this study analyzed data of a population-based survey conducted in Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional analysis was performed with self-reported data from the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (PNAD Covid-19) from May 2020. The authors analyzed a probability sample of 125,179 workers, aged 18 to 65, with monthly income lower than US$ 3 500. The variable HCW or non-HCW was the covariate of interest and having reported FS symptoms or not was the outcome variable. Authors tested interactions of HCW with other covariates. A logit model - when controlling for sociodemographic, employment, and geographic characteristics - investigated the chance of HCW reporting FS compared to non-HCW. RESULTS HCW have a significant effect (odds ratio of 1.369) on reporting FS symptoms when compared to non-HCW. HCW account for 4.17% of the sample, with a higher frequency of FS (3.38%) than observed for non-HCW (2.43%). Female, non-white and older individuals had higher chance to report FS. CONCLUSIONS The HCW had a higher chance of reporting symptoms than non-HCW aged over 18 years in the labor force. These results emphasize guidelines for preventive measures to reduce workplace exposures in the healthcare facilities. The prevalence is disproportionately affecting HCW women and HCW non-whites. In the regions North and Northeast the steeper progression is consistent with the hypothesis of socioeconomic factors, and it explains the greater prevalence in HCW and non-HCW living in those territories.

Discriminação por gênero e poder de mercado como determinantes do emprego relativo de mulheres

Este artigo tem como objetivo testar implicações empíricas da teoria clássica de Becker sobre a discriminação contra as mulheres no Brasil. Especificamente, investigamos se a relação contemporânea entre o emprego relativo de mulheres e a performance (lucratividade) varia com o poder de mercado da empresa. Essa teoria é testada a partir de um painel dos microdados longitudinais construído a partir da compatibilização dos dados da Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS) e da Pesquisa Industrial Anual - Empresa (PIA), no período de 2002 a 2013. Argumentamos que quando esse teste é feito usando a medida tradicionalmente utilizada para mensurar o emprego relativo das mulheres, o resultado pode ser contaminado por elementos relacionados à segregação ocupacional. Propomos uma nova medida que leva em conta esse aspecto, e implementamos o teste com ambas as medidas de emprego relativo de mulheres. Os resultados indicaram que na maioria das especificações consideradas há uma relação positiva e significativa entre emprego relativo de mulheres e lucratividade para empresas com alto poder de mercado. Em algumas poucas especificações, essa relação também aparece como positiva e significativa para empresas com menor poder de mercado. Porém, mesmo nesses casos, a relação é sempre mais forte para o nível mais alto de poder de mercado que consideramos. Por fim, encontramos que a forma como a relação entre emprego relativo de mulheres e lucro depende do poder de mercado é muito mais estável quando a primeira variável é mensurada pelo índice proposto.

This article aims to test empirical implications of the classical Beckerian theory on discrimination against women in Brazil. Specifically, the contemporary relationship between the relative use of women versus men and the performance, and how this relation changes with product market power is examined. The theory is tested using a panel of longitudinal microdata linking information at firm level from a matched employer-employee data (RAIS) and a firm level survey with detailed information on firm performance (PIA) from 2002 to 2013. We claim that the result may be contaminated by elements related to occupational segregation when the test is performed using the standard measure of relative employment of women. We propose a new measure that takes this into account; and implement the test with both measures of relative employment of women. The results indicated that in most of the specifications there is a positive and significant relationship between relative employment of women and profitability for companies with high market power. In a few specifications, this relationship also appears as positive and significant for companies with lower market power. But even in such cases the ratio is always stronger for the higher level of market power we consider. Finally, we find that the relationship between relative employment of women and profit depends on market power is much more stable when the first variable is measured by the index we propose.