Depressive symptoms and psychosocial stress at work among older employees in three continents

Globalization and Health

Nico Dragano¹  Morten Wahrendorf²  Thorsten Lunau¹  Johannes Siegrist¹ 

[1] Department of Medical Sociology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duesseldorf, P.O. Box 101007, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany;International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

关键词: Surveys;    Job control;    Effort-reward imbalance;    Globalization;    Older employees;    Depressive symptoms;    Work stress;   

Others  :  819454
DOI  :  10.1186/1744-8603-8-27

 received in 2012-03-12, accepted in 2012-07-05,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

To assess whether an association of psychosocial stress at work with depressive symptoms among older employees is evident in a set of comparable empirical studies from Europe, North America and Asia.

Methods

Cross-sectional and longitudinal multivariate regression analyses of data from 4 cohort studies with elder workers (2004 and 2006) testing associations of psychosocial stress at work (‘effort-reward imbalance’; ‘low control’) with depressive symptoms.

Results

Cross-sectional analyses from 17 countries with 14.236 participants reveal elevated odds ratios of depressive symptoms among people experiencing high work stress compared to those with low or no work stress. Adjusted odds ratios vary from 1.64 (95% CI 1.02-2.63) in Japan to 1.97 (95% CI 1.75-2.23) in Europe and 2.28 (95% CI 1.59-3.28) in the USA. Odds ratios from additional longitudinal analyses (in 13 countries) controlling for baseline depression are smaller, but remain in part significant.

Conclusion

Findings indicate that psychosocial stress at work might be a relevant risk factor for depressive symptoms among older employees across countries and continents. This observation may call for global policy efforts to improve quality of work in view of a rapidly aging workforce, in particular in times of economic globalization.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Siegrist et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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