Several studies have focused on investigating the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the healthcare ​​workers area, there is still a gap regarding the real impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of medical records, absences from work, and the main complaints of this population.

To compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and sick leave among health professionals at a university hospital in pre and per-pandemic periods of COVID-19. Secondarily, we aimed to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence of health complaints of these professionals.

A retrospective longitudinal study was performed with database analysis from health workers at a University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro. Health-related data from the medical records of these professionals were collected. The workers should be employed at least six months before the pandemic and remain in the hospital for up to six months after the pandemic. Data analysis was based in the comparison of work on the comparison of work absences registered in the medical records of these patients. It also analyzed the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain, and health problems self-related by workers (sleep, depression, anxiety, and psychological assistance).

Data from 189 professionals were included in this study. The mean age of the population was 40.9 years (SD 7.8) and 143 employees (75.6%) were women. The average workload was 34 hours per week (SD 5.8). Professionals had on average 3.8 years of working at the hospital (SD 0.62). The professionals who most presented work-related diseases were nursing technicians 56 (29.6%) and administrative assistants 21 (11.1%). There was no significant difference when comparing the mean number of work absence days in the pre-pandemic period, 10.7 days (SD 19.5), and the per-pandemic period, 13.5 days (SD 15.9) (p=0.270). There was also no significant difference when comparing the number of health-related diseases in the same period. However, when observing self-reports on health problems, it was identified that there was interference from the pandemic in the frequency of occurrence of sleep problems (x²= 26,967; p=0.01), episodes of depression (x²= 63,087; p=0.01), anxiety attacks (x²= 67,938; p=0.01) and psychological assistance (x²=92,706; p=0.01).

There was no difference in the number of work absence days and the number of health-related diseases when comparing the pre-and-pandemic periods. However, it was observed that the pandemic interfered with the occurrence of health complaints.

The findings indicate that hospital professionals possibly needed to make the decision to work even being sick. Such behavior is also perceived in other work activities and should be more deeply explained by scientific works in the area.