Descriptive epidemiology of occupational accidents and work-related diseases in Brazil, 1998-2008

Introduction
Occupational accidents (OA) represent a public health problem worldwide, by involving young persons in productive age, which can generate disabling and even fatal , with important social and economic repercussions. The recent literature on the OA in Brazil is scarce. To evaluate trends in incidence and mortality due to OA, and the incidence of work-related diseases (WRD) in Brazil from 1998 to 2008.

Methods
This is a time-trend, which has included the cases of WRD and OA, as deaths recorded in the official statistics from the federal government. We calculated the annual percentage changes (APC) in incidence rates and mortality, through modeling method Joinpoint using the calendar year as a regressor variable. Statistical analysis was performed with the software Joinpoint Regression Program version 3.3.

Results
There was a significant decreasing trend in OA incidence in both, and the same was recorded for typical OA. However, the number of cases increased during the same period. Regarding incidence and the number of cases of commuting accidents there was a statistically significant increasing trend, while for mortality a decreasing trend for both mortality rate and the number of deaths was observed. No significant trends were noted for the incidence and the number of cases of WRD.

Discussion
There was a decline in incidence and mortality rates for OA during the study period. Several factors may have contributed to these findings, including the improvement of working conditions, the changing economy that shifted from industrial sector to the services sector, the underreporting of OA, and the outsourcing of services. The in commuting accidents suggests the influence of violence in urban centers. Given the high number of occurrences, the reorganization of the current policies of workers' health , should include the need of improvement in the OA registry.