Effect of working hours and precarious employment on depressive symptoms in South Korean employees: a longitudinal study

Kim, Woorim; Park, Sohee; Lee, Tae Hoon; Kim, Tae Hyun

doi:10.1136/oemed-2016-103553

Cited by 52 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…In addition, permanent employment, compared with precarious employment, was associated with prolonged QTc interval only for male employees. Although precarious employment has been reported to be associated with increased depressive symptoms (Virtanen et al 2005;Kim et al 2016), our result seems to be contradictory. However, the male permanent employees of call center bore a heavier responsibility than other employees within the company, which would be associated with autonomic imbalance as a result.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

The Association between Work-Related Stress and Autonomic Imbalance among Call Center Employees in Japan

Enoki

Maeda

Iwata

et al. 2017

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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There is little epidemiological evidence linking subjective stress to objective etiologic indicators. To clarify an association between work-related stress and autonomic nervous function, we examined call center employees (167 males and 371 females) undergoing electrocardiography (ECG) at the time of annual health checkups. The questionnaire was composed of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire based on the demand-control-support model and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale including detailed contents of home stress. The Bazett's corrected QT (QTc) interval, QT index, and heart rate were obtained from the ECG data. The male employees showed significantly higher scores of job demand, job control, and supervisor support than the female ones. In the male employees, QT index indicating the extent of autonomic imbalance and heart rate were associated with high score of supervisor support and low score of coworker support (P < 0.05), but no significant relationships were seen between QTc interval and either job strain (i.e., job demand and job control) or home stress. By contrast, the female employees showed no significant links between any autonomic indicators and either work-related stress or home stress. These data suggest that work-related stress affected QT index in male employees suffering specific occupational stressors such as emotional abuse from unsatisfied customers. Specifically, supports from supervisors and coworkers were paradoxically associated with QT index, implying that supervisors may have failed to effectively support such male employees. Also, autonomic nervous function in male employees appears to be more vulnerable to work-related stress than that in female ones.Keywords: autonomic nervous function; call center employees; demand-control-support model; electrocardiography; subjective job stress Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2017 December, 243 (4), 321-328. © 2017 Tohoku University Medical Press IntroductionWith regard to the epidemiological evidence linking work-related stress to cardiovascular disease, the stress and cardiovascular disease are not directly tied but mediated by a certain etiologic mechanism. However, there is less research on the etiological pathways of the disease causation (Schnall et al. 1994). Collins et al. (2005) examined electrocardiographic QT intervals for 36 healthy men wearing 48-h Holter-monitor, and one mechanism suggested by them was the disturbed cardiovascular regulatory pattern associated with job strain in a pathogenic manner. In this case, it may not be easy to examine a large number of workers with 48-h monitor. Another mechanism was concerning autonomic imbalance induced by home stress (Maeda et al. 2015), but not work-related stress. For the earlier prevention of work-related cardiovascular events and a better understanding of the pathophysiology, it is important to investigate the association between workrelated stress and autonomic outcomes by using simpler tools.As a measure of work-related stress, the job demandcontrol-support (DCS) model with three dimensions (i...

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

The Association between Work-Related Stress and Autonomic Imbalance among Call Center Employees in Japan

Enoki

Maeda

Iwata

et al. 2017

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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“…Descriptive statistics for the identified eligible ten published studies (54)(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63) are presented in supplementary table C, www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract. php?abstract_id=3712.…”

Section: Literature Search Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The range of study entry year varied between 1992-2010. Four studies were from Japan (54,58,59,62), two from Canada (56,61), and one each from the UK (57), Sweden (55), France (60), and South Korea (63). In three studies, there were separate estimates for men and women (54)(55)(56).…”

Section: Literature Search Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In three studies, there were separate estimates for men and women (54)(55)(56). Adjustment for covariates varied between none (58), stratification by sex (54,55), and multivariable (56,57,(59)(60)(61)(62)(63) In total, the number of participants in published studies and individual participant data was 189 729 (96 275 men, 93 454 women) from 35 countries. The number of cases with new-onset depressive symptoms was 21 747 (the average onset 11.5%).…”

Section: Literature Search Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data

Virtanen¹,

Jokela²,

Madsen³

et al. 2018

Scand J Work Environ Health

145

111

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Objectives This systematic review and meta-analysis combined published study-level data and unpublished individual-participant data with the aim of quantifying the relation between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms. MethodsWe searched PubMed and Embase for published prospective cohort studies and included available cohorts with unpublished individual-participant data. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate summary estimates across studies.Results We identified ten published cohort studies and included unpublished individual-participant data from 18 studies. In the majority of cohorts, long working hours was defined as working ≥55 hours per week. In multivariable-adjusted meta-analyses of 189 729 participants from 35 countries [96 275 men, 93 454 women, follow-up ranging from 1-5 years, 21 747 new-onset cases), there was an overall association of 1.14 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.25] between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms, with significant evidence of heterogeneity (I 2 =45.1%, P=0.004). A strong association between working hours and depressive symptoms was found in Asian countries (1.50, 95% CI 1.13-2.01), a weaker association in Europe (1.11, 95% CI 1.00-1.22), and no association in North America (0.97, 95% CI 0.70-1.34) or Australia (0.95,. Differences by other characteristics were small. ConclusionsThis observational evidence suggests a moderate association between long working hours and onset of depressive symptoms in Asia and a small association in Europe.Key terms depression; mental health; overtime; psychological distress; working life; working time. Long working hours and depressive symptomsDepression is a leading cause of years lived with disability, contributing to a significant proportion of disease burden worldwide (1). Given that the burden of mental disorders peaks at working age (1), workingage populatio ns are an important target for prevention. There is growing evidence to suggest a link between work characteristics and the onset of depression, with perceived psychosocial work stress being the most often investigated work exposure (2-7).Recently, studies have also focused on long working hours as a potential risk factor for mental disorders (8). However, although several reviews of this field exist (5, 9-24), the few systematic quantifications of the evidence have been based on published cross-sectional (18,19,25) or published longitudinal studies (26). Given the potential publication bias in studies based on published data (27), an individual-participant metaanalysis of unpublished data would provide important complementary evidence to evaluate the effect of long working hours on mental health. Furthermore, long working hours are more common in Asia and North America than in Europe and the risk of mental health problems is higher among women and individuals with low socioeconomic position than men and those with high socioeconomic status. As determinants and mechanisms that harm and protect mental health may also vary by regio...

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“…As a matter of concern, some studies reported that precarious employment was associated with increased depressive symptoms or depression (Virtanen et al 2005;QuesnelVallée et al 2010;Ervasti et al 2014;Fiori et al 2016;Kim et al 2016), and other demonstrated higher psychological morbidity among precarious workers compared with permanent workers (Kim et al 2006;Kim et al 2016); for instance, more days of work under temporary contract as well as frequent changes in temporary contract significantly increased the probability of developing mental health problems that need to be medically treated (Moscone et al 2016). Is this really correct?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precarious Employment Is Not Associated with Increased Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Study in Care Service Workers of Japan

Tanaka

Maeda

Fushimi

et al. 2017

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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Some epidemiological studies with a large number of subjects, like a national health study, reported that precarious employment was associated with increased depressive symptoms, but this hypothesis may not be applicable to precarious workers of all industry types. We examined the association between precarious employment and depressive symptoms in light of work-related stress in care work environments. The selfadministered questionnaire, composed of the Job Content Questionnaire based on the demand-controlsupport model and the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), was distributed, and a total of 1,338 permanent and 531 precarious employees responded to it with complete forms. In the precarious employees, scores of CES-D, job demand and job control were lower and supervisor support score was higher compared with the permanent employees, though there was no significant difference in the proportion of CES-D score ≥16 between the two groups. Multivariate analysis with adjustment for possible confounders revealed that increased depressive symptoms were associated with low coworker support in the precarious employees and with high demand and low control at work, low support from supervisors and coworkers in the permanent employees. However, precarious employment was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms in the male or female employees. In conclusion, our results do not support the above hypothesis at least in care service workers. Such a hypothesis should be verified in employees of each industry separately. Instead, coworker support within each workplace appears to be important for the preventive strategy of depression in workers including precarious employees.

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Effect of working hours and precarious employment on depressive symptoms in South Korean employees: a longitudinal study

Abstract: Long work hours and precarious employment status were associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring and addressing the vulnerable groups of employees to reduce the mental health burden of economically active individuals.

Cited by 52 publications

References 25 publications

The Association between Work-Related Stress and Autonomic Imbalance among Call Center Employees in Japan

The Association between Work-Related Stress and Autonomic Imbalance among Call Center Employees in Japan

Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data

Precarious Employment Is Not Associated with Increased Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Study in Care Service Workers of Japan

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