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

Burnout, Professional ; Humans

Hazardous Substances ; Risk Assessment ; methods ; Workplace

Cardiovascular Diseases ; etiology ; Humans ; Psychology, Industrial

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

Air Pollutants, Occupational ; analysis ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Facility Design and Construction ; Humans ; Occupational Diseases ; prevention & control ; Occupational Exposure ; analysis ; prevention & control ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between occupational stress and serum glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level.

METHODSA cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted in 115 dispatchers. The occupational stressors, personality, occupational strain and coping with stress were measured using Occupational Stress Instrument. Serum HbA1c levels were measured by stratigraphic analysis of cation exchange resin.

RESULTSSerum HbA1c level (6.63% ± 1.93%) in the shiftwork group was significantly higher than that (5.73% ± 1.57%) in the daily relay work group (P < 0.05). Spearman correlation analyses showed the positive correlation between type A behavior and serum HbA1c level (r = 0.221), the negative correlation between organizational commitment and serum HbA1c level (r = -0.218). Variance analyses revealed that serum HbA1c levels among high, middle and low job requirement groups and job control groups were significantly different (P < 0.05). There were significant differences of serum HbA1c levels among different type A behavior, internal control, susceptibility of stress and organizational commitment groups (P < 0.05). Stepwise regression analyses indicated that shiftwork affects obviously serum HbAlc level, internal control and job future were the predictors of serum HbA1c level (R2 = 0.082).

CONCLUSIONSerum HbA1c may be a potential biomarker in field investigation of the effects of occupational stress.

Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Glycated Hemoglobin A ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; blood ; Serum ; chemistry ; Stress, Psychological ; blood ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult