Spatiotemporal patterns and structural inequalities associated with the incidence of common workplace accidents in Brazil.

Abstract

Introduction: Despite extensive research on social determinants of health, little attention has been given to their association with occupational health indicators in Brazil, especially concerning workplace accident metrics.

Objectives: To analyze the spatiotemporal pattern and the association between the occurrence of common workplace accidents and structural inequality indicators in Brazil.

Methods: This ecological study investigated the incidence of common workplace accidents among Social Security beneficiaries from 2010 to 2019 and its association with structural inequality indicators. A temporal analysis using joinpoint regression was conducted, and spatial associations were investigated through Global and Local Moran's I indices and corresponding maps.

Results: The trend in the incidence of common workplace accidents showed a decline over the study period, with an annual percentage change of -3.3% (95% CI -4.3 to -2.2; p = 0.001). A moderate negative correlation was found between accident incidence and the Theil-L Index (Moran's I = -0.541; p = 0.001), Gini Index (Moran's I = -0.544; p = 0.001), and Social Vulnerability Index (Moran's I = -0.558; p = 0.001). Conversely, a positive correlation was observed with the Municipal Human Development Index (Moran's I = +0.542; p = 0.002).

Conclusions: In summary, there was a decrease in the incidence of common workplace accidents in Brazil, and a spatial association was found between this indicator and inequalities at the territorial level.