Workplace bullying and psychotropic drug use: the mediating role of physical and mental health status.

OBJECTIVES: The association between workplace bullying and psychotropic drug use is not well established. This study was aimed at exploring the association between workplace bullying, and its characteristics, and psychotropic drug use and studying the mediating role of physical and mental health. METHODS: The study population consisted of a random sample of 3132 men and 4562 women of the working population in the south-east of France. Workplace bullying, evaluated using the validated instrument elaborated by Leymann, and psychotropic drug use, as well as covariates, were measured using a self-administered questionnaire. Covariates included age, marital status, presence of children, education, occupation, working hours, night work, physico-chemical exposures at work, self-reported health, and depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression analysis and was carried out separately for men and women. RESULTS: Workplace bullying was strongly associated with psychotropic drug use. Past exposure to bullying increased the risk for this use. The more frequent and the longer the exposure to bullying, the stronger the association with psychotropic drug use. Observing bullying on someone else at the workplace was associated with psychotropic drug use. Adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Additional adjustment for self-reported health and depressive symptoms reduced the magnitude of the associations, especially for men. CONCLUSIONS: The association between bullying and psychotropic drug use was found to be significant and strong and was partially mediated by physical and mental health.

Workplace bullying and sleep disturbances: findings from a large scale cross-sectional survey in the French working population.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between workplace bullying, the characteristics of workplace bullying, and sleep disturbances in a large sample of employees of the French working population. DESIGN: Workplace bullying, evaluated using the validated instrument developed by Leymann, and sleep disturbances, as well as covariates, were measured using a self-administered questionnaire. Covariates included age, marital status, presence of children, education, occupation, working hours, night work, physical and chemical exposures at work, self-reported health, and depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis was performed using logistic regression analysis and was carried out separately for men and women. SETTING: General working population. PARTICIPANTS: The study population consisted of a random sample of 3132 men and 4562 women of the working population in the southeast of France. RESULTS: Workplace bullying was strongly associated with sleep disturbances. Past exposure to bullying also increased the risk for this outcome. The more frequent the exposure to bullying, the higher the risk of experiencing sleep disturbances. Observing someone else being bullied in the workplace was also associated with the outcome. Adjustment for covariates did not modify the results. Additional adjustment for self-reported health and depressive symptoms diminished the magnitude of the associations that remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of workplace bullying (around 10%) was found to be high in this study as well was the impact of this major job-related stressor on sleep disturbances. Although no conclusion about causality could be drawn from this cross-sectional study, the findings suggest that the contribution of workplace bullying to the burden of sleep disturbances may be substantial.

[Specificity and indications of bone scan in non-neoplastic bone and joint disease in children. A study of seventy cases]. / Spécificité et indications de la scintigraphie osseuse dans la pathologie ostéo-articulaire non tumorale de l'enfant. Etude de soixante-dix cas.

We studied 70 bone scans in pediatric patients to define the indications of this procedure in non-neoplastic disease. Sensitivity of bone scans in infections proved outstanding except in children under one year of age. Eighty-nine per cent of children with pain and fever and a positive bone scan had either an infection or osteochondritis. The same symptoms with a negative bone scan indicated either transient synovitis of the hip or the absence of bone lesions in 83% of cases. Children with pain as the only symptoms and a negative bone scan consistently had either transient synovitis of the hip, or normal bones and joints (100% of cases). Eighty-two per cent of children with pain and a positive bone scan had an infection or osteochondritis. Indications of bone scanning vary according to clinical features and include all children with functional impairment, pain and fever, and isolated limps with no obvious cause.