Self-reported morbidity by workers in the Family Health Teams

The health of primary care workers is still a poorly addressed area of study in Brazil. The scope of this study was to describe the standard of self-reported morbidity by workers in Family Health Teams (FHT) in the northeastern macro-region of the state of Minas Gerais. A cross-sectional study was conducted with self-applied questionnaires, including socio-demographical data, labor and health conditions, among all workers in FHT. Self-reported morbidity was categorized based on the International Classification of Primary Care, version 2. Information was collected from 1,731 workers in 204 primary health care units. The group was predominantly comprised of female community health workers. The prevalence of at least one health problem was 26.1% for women and 18.3% for men. The main health problems were related to circulatory, musculoskeletal, respiratory, endocrine-metabolic and nervous systems. After multiple analysis, the variables associated with health problems were related to being female, aged 30 years or more and being on the team for 5 years or longer. The morbidity reported by the FHT workers is similar to that observed for the population in general, highlighting the need for strategies to promote the health of these workers as well.