Chronic pain is a public health problem that generates high costs to health systems, for causing absenteeism, temporary or permanent incapacity, and morbidity, in addition to influencing people's quality of life. The objective is to characterize the chronic pain of workers and to verify the association of their prevalence with variables of sex, age, places of pain, absenteeism and search for health care. This is a cross-sectional survey and descriptive approach, carried out through a virtual form sent in the institutional e-mails of the servers of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Tocantins (IFTO). The data were analyzed descriptively and by means of chi-square test with yacht correction, Linear Trend test and test for adhesion. Values of p <0.05 were established as significant. Chronic pain affects 56.74% of IFTO staff. One-fifth of the institution's employees ever lacked work because of pain, causing functional, social, and occupational losses. 70.97% of employees who felt pain sought professional assistance for health care. Chronic pain, absenteeism, and the search for health care associated with sex are extremely significant, demonstrating that women are more affected than men, that they miss work more and seek more professional help because of the pain. The most prevalent chronic pain areas were: lumbar, sacrum and coccyx (23.63%); head, face and neck (17.58%) and shoulders and upper limbs (16.46%). The identification of the factors associated with chronic pain may contribute to the knowledge of pain epidemiology, its management and to public health programs, worker’s health and quality of life.
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