Depressive symptoms and psychosocial stress at work among older employees in three continents

Cross-sectional and longitudinal multivariate regression analyses of data from 4 cohort studies with elder workers (2004 and 2006) testing associations of psychosocial stress at work (‘effort-reward imbalance’; ‘low control’) with depressive symptoms.Cross-sectional analyses from 17 countries with 14.236 participants reveal elevated odds ratios of depressive symptoms among people experiencing high work stress compared to those with low or no work stress. Adjusted odds ratios vary from 1.64 (95% CI 1.02-2.63) in Japan to 1.97 (95% CI 1.75-2.23) in Europe and 2.28 (95% CI 1.59-3.28) in the USA. Odds ratios from additional longitudinal analyses (in 13 countries) controlling for baseline depression are smaller, but remain in part significant.Findings indicate that psychosocial stress at work might be a relevant risk factor for depressive symptoms among older employees across countries and continents. This observation may call for global policy efforts to improve quality of work in view of a rapidly aging workforce, in particular in times of economic globalization.On a global scale, depression is one of the leading causes of premature mortality and disability-adjusted life years [1]. Despite uncertainty about the scope of a potentially increased incidence in recent years [2] depression makes a significant contribution to the global burden of disease and associated costs, in particular in rapidly aging populations [3-5]. On a different level, work stress is now considered a growing threat to the health of employed people, especially so in association with aggravated competition, work intensification and job insecurity resulting from rapid spread of free market principles in a globalized economy [6]. Whether there is an association between work stress and depression has been explored in a number of epidemiological studies (for reviews see [7-10]. Although results are not fully consistent significantly increased odds ratios of incident depression were documented in a majori