All sick leaves during 1989 among academics and students of a Faculty of Medicine were analyzed. Twenty three percent of academics and 60.5% of students had at least one sick leave during the year. The mean general rate of absenteeism among academics was 3.55% (1.6% among men and 8.09% among women). The mean length of sick leaves was 13.5 days. Eighteen percent of lost working days were due to pregnancy, lactation or care needs of less than one year children. Tumors, trauma, respiratory, digestive and mental illnesses accounted for 72.8% of lost working days. Medical students had a mean general absenteeism rate of 2.66% (ranging between 1.8% among male sixth year and 4.8% among female fourth year students). Mean length of sick leaves was 3.5 days (ranging from 2.98 among female fifth year and 6.7 among male sixth year students). Respiratory, digestive and infectious diseases accounted for 74% of lost days. No sick leaves were observed, due to pregnancy or lactation among students or due to occupational diseases among academics.