Humans ; Occupational Diseases ; prevention & control ; Occupational Health ; Stress, Psychological ; prevention & control

Burnout, Professional ; Humans

Cardiovascular Diseases ; etiology ; Humans ; Psychology, Industrial

Hazardous Substances ; Risk Assessment ; methods ; Workplace

Carbon Disulfide ; analysis ; Occupational Exposure ; prevention & control ; Threshold Limit Values ; Workplace

Humans ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; prevention & control

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Health ; statistics & numerical data ; Transients and Migrants ; psychology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of chronic occupational stress on the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and immune function.

METHODSA cross-sectional study was conducted in 112 railway station dispatchers. Perceived job stress was assessed by means of the Chinese version of the Job Content Questionnaire. The subjects were divided into high, medium and low strain groups according to the job strain score of the questionnaire. The number of GR, percentage of T lymphocyte subpopulations, concentrations of cortisol and interleukin 2 (IL-2) in blood were measured.

RESULTSThe concentrations of serum cortisol in high and medium strain groups [(295.43 +/- 79.06) and (274.34 +/- 70.08) ng/ml respectively] were higher than that in low strain group [(181.01 +/- 53.41) ng/ml, P < 0.05]. GR binding capacity in both groups (4,330.0 +/- 1,001.0, 3,971.6 +/- 966.8 specific binding/cell respectively) were smaller than that in low strain group (5,141.3 +/- 1,068.5 specific binding/cell, P < 0.05). The percentage of CD(3) T lymphocyte in high strain group was higher than that in low strain group [(50.21 +/- 10.30)% vs (56.87 +/- 15.36)%, P < 0.05], and CD(4) T lymphocyte in high and medium strain groups were significantly smaller than that in low strain group [(23.27 +/- 10.01)%, (27.06 +/- 7.47)% vs (33.31 +/- 7.77)%, P < 0.05]. In contrast, the percentage of CD(8) T lymphocytes in high and medium strain groups were significantly higher than that in low strain group [(28.16 +/- 6.47)%, (25.54 +/- 6.70)% vs (21.91 +/- 5.93)%, P < 0.05]. The levels of serum IL-2 in high and medium groups were smaller than that in low strain group [(0.77 +/- 0.05), (0.80 +/- 0.07) vs (1.05 +/- 0.12) ng/ml, P < 0.05]. Correlation analysis showed that serum cortisol level was negatively correlated with CD(8) percentage (r = -0.612, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONChronic occupational stress may induce rise of glucocorticoid, down-regulation of GR and inhibition on immune function.

CD4-CD8 Ratio ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; blood ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; immunology ; metabolism ; Receptors, Glucocorticoid ; analysis ; Stress, Psychological ; immunology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo find out whether tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-308 and TNF-alpha-238 locus (G-->A) mutation within the TNF-alpha gene promoter region is associated with susceptibility to occupational stress.

METHODS169 pipelining workers were investigated using the occupational stress measuring instrument. The subjects were divided into high and low strain groups according to the job strain score of the questionnaire. By means of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) techniques, TNF-alpha gene polymorphisms of all subjects were analyzed.

RESULTSThere were 34 workers with genotype -308G/G and 4 with -308G/A genotype in the low strain group while in the high strain group, there were 117 workers with genotype -308G/G and 10 with -308G/A genotype and 1 with -308A/A. No significant difference in -308 genotype was found between the two groups (chi2 = 0.0001, P > 0.05). There were 30 workers with genotype -238G/G and 7 with -238G/A genotype and 1 with -238A/A in the low strain group while there were 118 workers with genotype -238G/G and 10 with -238G/A genotype in high strain group. The frequencies of TNF-alpha-238A in the low strain groups were significantly higher than that in high strain groups (chi2 = 5.45, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONTNF-alpha promoter G238A polymorphism is associated with occupational stress. There is no evident relationship between TNF-alpha promoter G308A polymorphism and susceptibility to occupational stress.

Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Occupational Diseases ; psychology ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Stress, Psychological ; genetics ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between social support and occupational stress.

METHODSA cross-sectional survey involving 654 career people from different industries was conducted. Social support, the occupational stressors, personalities, and occupational strain were measured by using Occupational Stress Instrument.

RESULTSThe people from different occupations got different level of social support. Social support scores were significantly positively related to interpersonal relation, responsibility for people, responsibility for thing, advancement and participation, task identity, training adequacy, challenge, autonomy, job satisfaction, mental health, affective ambulance, positive emotion, self-esteem and coping strategy (P<0.05 or P<0.01), negatively to careers, role conflict, role ambiguity, job future ambiguity, negative emotion, depression symptoms, daily life stress and work locus of control scores (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The scores of interpersonal relation, responsibility for people, responsibility for thing, advancement and participation, task identity, training adequacy, challenge, autonomy, job satisfaction, mental health, affective ambulance, positive emotion, self-esteem and coping strategy with sufficient social support were significantly higher than those of deficient social support (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The scores of role conflict, role ambiguity, job future ambiguity, negative emotion, depression symptoms, daily life stress and work locus of control were higher than those of the latter (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Stepwise regression analysis showed that social support was the predictor of depression (R(2)>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSocial support affects occupational stress largely and plays an important role in maintaining mental health of career people. The people from different occupations get different level of social support.

Adult ; Burnout, Professional ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Social Support ; Young Adult