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Depressive symptoms and self-reported occupational injury in small and medium-sized companies
OBJECTIVES: This survey was designed to determine whether depressive symptoms had an effect on the risk of self-reported occupationalinjury in South Korea.
METHODS: We conducted a prospective follow-up survey of workers at 44 small- to medium-sized companies classified into manufacturing or service businesses; 1,350 questionnaires were used in the final analysis. The first survey requested information regarding personal characteristics, work characteristics, and depressive symptoms (CES-D); the second survey queried participants in the first survey about self-reported occupational injuries (including minor scratches or cuts) experienced in the previous 4 months. Risk ratios (RRs) were calculated through Poisson regression analysis. The number of occupational injuries during the previous 4 months served as the dependent variable, and depressive symptoms served as the independent variable.
RESULTS: After adjustment for demographic factors, the RRs were 1.75 (95% CI: 1.41-2.18) and 2.68 (95% CI: 1.98-3.64) in male and female, respectively. Additional adjustment for work-related variables did not alter the RR considerably in females (2.65; 95% CI: 1.95-3.59). Among the male workers, however, the RR was not significant (1.21; 95% CI: 0.95-1.55). On the other hand, when the analysis was limited to blue-collar workers, after adjustment for demographic and work-related factors, the RRs remained significant in both genders (male: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.03-1.74; female: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.41-2.95).
CONCLUSIONS: We found that the risk of self-reported occupational injury experience was higher in workers who reported depressive symptoms. Additional study using objective data is required to confirm our results.
This article is an OHRC member participated article.
May 2009. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health
SCI, co-author
Link 1: this article @ PubMed
Link2: this article @ SpringerLink