Classification

Originals

Onset of Peptic Ulcer and its Relation to Work-Related Factors and Life Events: A Prospective Study

Atsuko SUGISAWA, et al

Department of Mental Health Administration studies, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry
Peptic ulcer, Workers, Risk factor. Psychosocial factors, Smoking: stressful rife events, Late night work, Work stress, Longitudinal study
A. Sugisawa, Department of Mental Health Administration Studies, National Institute of Mental Health, NCNP, 1-7-3 Kohnodai, Ichikawa, Chiba 272, Japan J Occup Healthyear1998Vol40No122^-31

Although peptic ulcer (PU) is counted as one of the various work-related diseases, little is known about the risk factors other than health habits. The authors used data from the Japan Workers stress and Health survey-an 18-month follow-up study-to ascertain whether psychosocial factors play any role in the development of PU in the working population. The subjects were 9.204 men, working at various occupations and firms aged 30 through 59 years, who had no prior history of PU at baseline. People with extremely severe life event stress had an increased risk of PU compared with those who had no such experience. An increased risk was found when the frequency of late night work was 10-12 times a month compared with none. Five items related to perceived work overload-too much responsibility poor relations with superior, understaffing, excess of evening /holiday business meetings, and physically too tiring -were each positively associated with PU. Life event stress frequency of rate night work, and perceived work overload were all independently associated with the onset of PU after controlling for age and smoking. These results provide evidence that psychosocial factors play an important role in the development of PU.

Title

Author

Organization

Keywords

Correspondence

Abstract