Marianna Virtanen

Workplace bullying and the risk of cardiovascular disease and depression

Aims: To examine exposure to workplace bullying as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and depression in employees. Methods: Logistic regression models were related to prospective data from two surveys in a cohort of 5432 hospital employees (601 men and 4831 women), aged 18–63 years. Outcomes were new reports of doctor diagnosed cardiovascular disease and depression during the two year follow up among those who were free from these diseases at baseline. Results: The prevalence of bullying was 5% in the first survey and 6% in the second survey. Two per cent reported bullying experiences in both surveys, an indication of prolonged bullying. After adjustment for sex, age, and income, the odds ratio of incident cardiovascular disease for victims of prolonged bullying compared to non-bullied employees was 2.3 (95% CI 1.2 to 4.6). A further adjustment for overweight at baseline attenuated the odds ratio to 1.6 (95% CI 0.8 to 3.5). The association between prolonged bullying and incident depression was significant, even after these adjustments (odds ratio 4.2, 95% CI 2.0 to 8.6). Conclusions: A strong association between workplace bullying and subsequent depression suggests that bullying is an aetiological factor for mental health problems. The victims of bullying also seem to be at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, but this risk may partly be attributable to overweight.

From insecure to secure employment: changes in work, health, health related behaviours, and sickness absence

Aims: To determine whether change in employment status (from fixed term to permanent employment) is followed by changes in work, health, health related behaviours, and sickness absence. Methods: Prospective cohort study with four year follow up. Data from 4851 (710 male, 4141 female) hospital employees having a fixed term or permanent job contract on entry to the study were collected at baseline and follow up. Results: At baseline, compared to permanent employees, fixed term employees reported lower levels of workload, job security, and job satisfaction. They also reported greater work ability. All fixed term employees had a lower rate of medically certified sickness absence at baseline. Baseline rate ratios for those who remained fixed term were 0.64 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.75), and were 0.50 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.75) for those who later became permanent. Continuous fixed term employment was not associated with changes in the outcome measures. Change from fixed term to permanent employment was followed by an increase in job security, enduring job satisfaction, and increased medically certified sickness absence (compared to permanent workers rate ratio 0.96 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.16)). Other indicators of work, health, and health related behaviours remained unchanged. Conclusion: Receiving a permanent job contract after fixed term employment is associated with favourable changes in job security and job satisfaction. The corresponding increase in sickness absence might be due to a reduction in presenteeism and the wearing off of health related selection.

Social inequalities in antidepressant treatment and mortality: a longitudinal register study

BACKGROUND Despite an increased prevalence of depression among people of low socio-economic position, it remains unclear whether their treatment with antidepressants appropriately matches their increased need compared with people from more affluent backgrounds. This study examined socio-economic differences in antidepressant prescriptions and mortality related to depressive disorders. METHOD A longitudinal register study of 17947 male and 47458 female local government employees with linked information on socio-economic indicators (education and occupational status) and data on antidepressant use and mortality associated with depressive disorder (suicide, alcohol-related deaths) during the years 1994 to 2000. RESULTS In men, antidepressant treatment was less common among low educational groups than among high educational groups (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76-0.99) and a corresponding difference was seen between occupational statuses (OR for manual v. upper non-manual 0.72, 95% CI 0.62-0.84). In women, socio-economic position was not associated with antidepressant use. However, both among the men and women, employees with low socio-economic position had increased risk for mental-health-related mortality, as indicated by suicides, deaths from alcohol-related causes, and all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest a mismatch in the treatment of depression relative to apparent clinical need, with the lowest levels of treatment concentrated in the lower socio-economic groups, despite evidence of their increased prevalence of depression and suicide.

Selection from fixed term to permanent employment: prospective study on health, job satisfaction, and behavioural risks

Study objective: To examine health, job satisfaction, and behavioural risks as antecedents of selection from fixed term to permanent employment. Design: Prospective cohort study of change in employment contract during a two year period. Self reported health, recorded sickness absence, job satisfaction, behavioural risks, demographics, and occupational characteristics were assessed at baseline. Setting: Hospital staff in two Finnish hospital districts. Participants: A cohort of 526 hospital employees (54 men, 472 women) aged 20 to 58 years with a fixed term job contract at baseline. Main results: During the follow up period, 137 became permanently employed. Men, employees in higher positions, full time workers, and those with five to eight years in the employ of the hospital were more likely to become permanently employed. After adjusting for these factors, obtaining a permanent job contract was predicted by self rated good health (odds ratio (OR) 3.90; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.34 to 11.36), non-caseness of psychological distress (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.01 to 3.20), high job satisfaction (OR 1.86; CI 1.17 to 2.94), and non-sedentary life style (OR 2.64; CI 1.29 to 5.41), compared with the rest of the cohort. Conclusions: Investigation of fixed term employees yields new information about selective mechanisms in employment mobility. Good health seems to promote the chances for a fixed term employee to reach a better labour market status. These results correspond to earlier research on selective mechanisms in other forms of employment mobility and provide a partial explanation for the socioeconomic gradient of health.

Long-term inflammation increases risk of common mental disorder: a cohort study

The inflammation hypothesis of depression, or more broadly, common mental disorders, proposes that chronic inflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of these conditions.1, 2 The hypothesis is supported by experiments of inflammatory stimuli, antidepressant trials and studies on depression-related genes and pathogen host defense,2, 3, 4, 5 but direct population-based evidence from long-term inflammation is scarce. Because of a lack of studies on the effects of chronically elevated inflammation, assessed over several years using repeat measurements, it has remained unclear whether the association between inflammation and common mental disorder is the consequence of acute or chronic inflammation.

Does organisational justice protect from sickness absence following a major life event? A Finnish public sector study

Background It has been shown that fairness perceptions have a strong impact on health, especially under conditions of great work stress. The aim of this study was to extend previous research in studying whether working in high justice workplace would protect from health effects following environmental stressors outside work. Methods Using a prospective longitudinal design, the relationships between organisational justice and sickness-related absences both before and after a major life event among 25 459 public sector employees working in 2551 work units were studied. Sickness absences covered the period from 36 months before the event until 30 months after the event. Results The increase in sickness absences after the event was larger and stayed at a higher level even 30 months after the event, among those who perceived the management practices in their work unit to be relatively unfair. Similar patterns were found for each of the distributive, procedural and interactional dimensions of organisational justice. Conclusions Fair organisational and managerial procedures may buffer the negative health effects of psychosocial health risks outside work.

Influence of retirement on nonadherence to medication for hypertension and diabetes

Background: The extent to which common life transitions influence medication adherence among patients remains unknown. We examined whether retirement is associated with a change in adherence to medication in patients with hypertension or type 2 diabetes. Methods: Participants in the Finnish Public Sector study were linked to national registers. We included data for the years 1994–2011. We identified and followed 3468 adult patients with hypertension and 412 adult patients with type 2 diabetes for medication adherence for the 3 years before their retirement and the 4 years after their retirement (mean follow-up 6.8 yr). Our primary outcome was proportion of patients with poor adherence to medication, which we defined as less than 40% of days covered by treatment. We determined these proportions before and after retirement using data from filled prescriptions. Results: The preretirement prevalence of poor adherence to medication was 6% in men and women with hypertension, 2% in men with diabetes and 4% in women with diabetes. Among men, retirement was associated with an increased risk of poor adherence to both antihypertensive agents (odds ratio [OR] 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–1.68) and antidiabetic drugs (OR 2.40, 95% CI 1.37–4.20). Among women, an increased risk of poor adherence was seen only for antihypertensive agents (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.07–1.46). Similar results were apparent for alternative definitions of poor adherence. Our results did not differ across strata of age, socioeconomic status or comorbidity. Interpretation: We found a decline in adherence to medication after retirement among men and women with hypertension and men with type 2 diabetes. If these findings can be confirmed, we need randomized controlled trials to determine whether interventions to reduce poor adherence after retirement could improve clinical outcomes of treatments for hypertension and diabetes.

Job insecurity and risk of diabetes: a meta-analysis of individual participant data

Background: Job insecurity has been associated with certain health outcomes. We examined the role of job insecurity as a risk factor for incident diabetes. Methods: We used individual participant data from 8 cohort studies identified in 2 open-access data archives and 11 cohort studies participating in the Individual-Participant-Data Meta-analysis in Working Populations Consortium. We calculated study-specific estimates of the association between job insecurity reported at baseline and incident diabetes over the follow-up period. We pooled the estimates in a meta-analysis to produce a summary risk estimate. Results: The 19 studies involved 140 825 participants from Australia, Europe and the United States, with a mean follow-up of 9.4 years and 3954 incident cases of diabetes. In the preliminary analysis adjusted for age and sex, high job insecurity was associated with an increased risk of incident diabetes compared with low job insecurity (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09–1.30). In the multivariable-adjusted analysis restricted to 15 studies with baseline data for all covariates (age, sex, socioeconomic status, obesity, physical activity, alcohol and smoking), the association was slightly attenuated (adjusted OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01–1.24). Heterogeneity between the studies was low to moderate (age- and sex-adjusted model: I2 = 24%, p = 0.2; multivariable-adjusted model: I2 = 27%, p = 0.2). In the multivariable-adjusted analysis restricted to high-quality studies, in which the diabetes diagnosis was ascertained from electronic medical records or clinical examination, the association was similar to that in the main analysis (adjusted OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04–1.35). Interpretation: Our findings suggest that self-reported job insecurity is associated with a modest increased risk of incident diabetes. Health care personnel should be aware of this association among workers reporting job insecurity.

PREDICTIVE FACTORS OF FUTURE PARTICIPATION IN REHABILITATION IN THE WORKING POPULATION: THE FINNISH PUBLIC SECTOR STUDY

OBJECTIVE To examine factors that predict the probability of an employee being granted in-patient multidisciplinary rehabilitation to sustain worklife participation. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SUBJECTS A total of 49,264 public sector employees. METHODS Baseline characteristics were measured from survey responses and registers. Two types of rehabilitation were identified: early (for employees only at risk of their work capacity deteriorating in the near future) and later (for employees whose work capacity has already deteriorated substantially). RESULTS During the mean 5.0-year follow-up, 1551 participants were granted early rehabilitation and 1293 received later rehabilitation. Early rehabilitation was predicted by a permanent job, high occupational status, good job control and job security, non-smoking and high physical activity. Both early and later rehabilitation were predicted by the use of painkillers, anxiety, and sickness absence. Later rehabilitation was also predicted by older age, poor self-rated health, and low educational level. CONCLUSION Early rehabilitation and, to a lesser extent, later rehabilitation were more often granted to employees with few known risk factors. This finding suggests that preventive measures to reduce the risk of disability pension amongst high-risk employees through rehabilitation are not targeted as intended.

Work stress and risk of death in men and women with and without cardiometabolic disease: a multicohort study

Summary Background Although some cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines suggest a need to manage work stress in patients with established cardiometabolic disease, the evidence base for this recommendation is weak. We sought to clarify the status of stress as a risk factor in cardiometabolic disease by investigating the associations between work stress and mortality in men and women with and without pre-existing cardiometabolic disease. Methods In this multicohort study, we used data from seven cohort studies in the IPD-Work consortium, initiated between 1985 and 2002 in Finland, France, Sweden, and the UK, to examine the association between work stress and mortality. Work stress was denoted as job strain or effort–reward imbalance at work. We extracted individual-level data on prevalent cardiometabolic diseases (coronary heart disease, stroke, or diabetes [without differentiation by diabetes type]) at baseline. Work stressors, socioeconomic status, and conventional and lifestyle risk factors (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, smoking status, BMI, physical activity, and alcohol consumption) were also assessed at baseline. Mortality data, including date and cause of death, were obtained from national death registries. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to study the associations of work stressors with mortality in men and women with and without cardiometabolic disease. Results We identified 102 633 individuals with 1 423 753 person-years at risk (mean follow-up 13·9 years [SD 3·9]), of whom 3441 had prevalent cardiometabolic disease at baseline and 3841 died during follow-up. In men with cardiometabolic disease, age-standardised mortality rates were substantially higher in people with job strain (149·8 per 10 000 person-years) than in those without (97·7 per 10 000 person-years; mortality difference 52·1 per 10 000 person-years; multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1·68, 95% CI 1·19–2·35). This mortality difference for job strain was almost as great as that for current smoking versus former smoking (78·1 per 10 000 person-years) and greater than those due to hypertension, high total cholesterol concentration, obesity, physical inactivity, and high alcohol consumption relative to the corresponding lower risk groups (mortality difference 5·9–44·0 per 10 000 person-years). Excess mortality associated with job strain was also noted in men with cardiometabolic disease who had achieved treatment targets, including groups with a healthy lifestyle (HR 2·01, 95% CI 1·18–3·43) and those with normal blood pressure and no dyslipidaemia (6·17, 1·74–21·9). In all women and in men without cardiometabolic disease, relative risk estimates for the work stress–mortality association were not significant, apart from effort–reward imbalance in men without cardiometabolic disease (mortality difference 6·6 per 10 000 person-years; multivariable-adjusted HR 1·22, 1·06–1·41). Interpretation In men with cardiometabolic disease, the contribution of job strain to risk of death was clinically significant and independent of conventional risk factors and their treatment, and measured lifestyle factors. Standard care targeting conventional risk factors is therefore unlikely to mitigate the mortality risk associated with job strain in this population. Funding NordForsk, UK Medical Research Council, and Academy of Finland.