Stress-associated factors in Mexican dentists

ABSTRACT

Dentistry is considered a stressful profession, since dentists are exposed to potential stressors during their practice. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify chronic stress levels and their association with different risk factors among dentists working at public health institutions in Guadalajara, Mexico. The study was observational, cross-sectional and one of association. The universe of this study was composed of 256 dentists that were obtained by means of a census technique. The instrument used for the analysis carried out in the year 2006 was the Stress Syndrome Inventory, performed with concurrent validation. Information was processed for the analysis, and chronic stress levels were identified with a bivariate analysis. Association strength was measured with OR, and confusion factors were controlled with a multivariate logistic analysis. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that female dentists have a greater risk of developing a high chronic stress level with an adjusted OR of 1.84, meaning that the risk for women is 1.84 times greater than that of men.