Hight prevalence of depression among working people with occupational disease: a population-based study

Abstract

Objective Occupational diseases (OD) are common and may generate physical/mental disorders. This study assessed depression risk among workers with OD. Methods We compared 560 subjects with recognized OD (for a two-year period) to 4,766 randomly selected subjects having worked in north-eastern France. They completed a self-administered questionnaire gathering socioeconomic/occupational characteristics, health, physician-diagnosed-diseases, and disabilities. Data were analyzed via logistic models. Results Depression was more common in OD-group than in the reference group among working people (4.9% vs. 2.6%, p=0.006, sex-age-adjusted-OR 1.94, 95%CI 1.11-2.38), but not among inactive people (4.3% vs. 4.9%, p=0.825). In working OD-group, depression related to bad health, poly-pathology, and domestic/leisure-activity-disability (sex-age-adjusted-ORs 2.88 to 8.27). Workers with adjusted jobs were also at risk (sex-age-adjusted-OR 2.71). Depression higher risk in women was more pronounced in working OD-group than among reference counterparts (age-adjusted-OR 3.40 vs. 2.20). Conclusion Working subjects with OD suffer much from depression which needs to be monitored