Characteristics of long working hours and subsequent psychological and physical responses: JNIOSH cohort study.
Occup Environ Med
; 80(6): 304-311, 2023 06.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2301120
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
This study aimed to examine the prospective association among objectively measured average working hours (AWHs), frequency of long working hours (FLWHs; defined as ≥205 working hours/month (≥45 hours/week)) for 6 months, and workers' self-reported psychological and physical health.METHODS:
The study included 15 143 workers from 5 Japanese companies. We collected monthly attendance records over 6 months before distributing a questionnaire survey on psychological/physical stress responses and work-related demographics. We then evaluated the associations of those attendance records with psychological/physical measures using analysis of covariance adjusted for sex, age, employment, job type, working conditions, work site and experience of emergency state due to COVID-19.RESULTS:
Irritability, anxiety and depression were significantly greater at ≥180 hours (≥45 hours/week), and fatigue and lack of vigour were greater at ≥205 hours than those of the normal working-hour group (140-180 hours/month [35-45 hours/week]). Psychological indices increased significantly with FLWH, with ≥3 times for irritability, depression and fatigue; ≥2 times for lack of vigour; and ≥1 time for anxiety when compared with no long working hours. No significant associations were observed between AWH or FLWH and physical stress responses.CONCLUSIONS:
Longer AWH was associated with higher levels of psychological stress responses. The effects of FLWH in the past 6 months varied among the psychological stress responses and did not occur for physical complaints. Under circumstances requiring long hours, workers' mental health should be protected through minimising the frequency of long work hours.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Occup Environ Med
Journal subject:
Occupational Medicine
/
Environmental Health
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Oemed-2022-108672
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