Affective temperament and mood spectrum symptoms in workers suffering from work-related stress disorders

Rodolfo Buselli; Antonello Veltri; Martina Corsi; Riccardo Marino; Sigrid Baldanzi; Martina Chiumiento; Fabrizio Caldi; Rudy Foddis; Giovanni Guglielmi; Alfonso Cristaudo; Liliana Dell'Osso; Claudia Carmassi

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.08.124

Affective temperament and mood spectrum symptoms in workers suffering from work-related stress disorders

J Affect Disord. 2022 Nov 15:317:354-359. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.08.124. Epub 2022 Sep 1.

Affiliations

¹ Occupational Health Unit, U.O. Medicina Preventiva del Lavoro, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Pisa, Italy.
² Occupational Health Unit, U.O. Medicina Preventiva del Lavoro, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Pisa, Italy. Electronic address: antonelloveltri@gmail.com.
³ Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
⁴ Section of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

PMID: 36058355
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.08.124

Abstract

Introduction: Adjustment Disorders (AD) which develop in response to work-related stressors represent a model of psychiatric occupational disease. Major Depressive Episodes (MDE) although often associated to work-related stressors are unlikely recognized by insurance institutes as occupational diseases. Affective temperament and mood spectrum symptoms are possible factors of vulnerability to stress. The aim of this study was to investigate if temperaments and mood spectrum symptoms had a different distribution among workers exposed to occupational stress and suffering from different psychiatric disorders (AD, MDE).

Methods: 156 AD and 97 MDE patients were recruited and evaluated with scales for perceived stress (PSM) and work-related stress (JCQ), for psychopathological symptoms (BDI-II, SAS), for affective temperament (TEMPS-A[P]) and for lifetime mood spectrum symptoms (MOODS-SR). Group comparisons and correlation analyses between variables were performed by parametric or non-parametric statistical tests according to variables distribution.

Results: The diagnostic groups did not differ for perceived and occupational stress levels. MDE patients reported significantly higher BDI-II score and MOODS-SR scores than AD ones. The hyperthymic temperament was significantly more frequent in AD than in MDE group. The hyperthymic score, differently from other dimensions of temperament and from mood spectrum components, negatively correlated or did not correlate with psychopathological symptoms severity and perceived stress levels.

Limitations: Predictive limitation because of cross-sectional design.

Conclusions: The hyperthymic temperament as opposed to lifetime subtreshold mood symptoms appears to be more represented in patients suffering from occupational AD than in MDE ones. Acknowledging vulnerability factors to job stress could support clinicians in occupational diseases prevention and management.

Keywords: Adjustment disorders; Depressive disorders; Mood spectrum; Occupational medicine; Temperament; Work-related stress.

MeSH terms

Bipolar Disorder* / psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depressive Disorder, Major* / psychology
Humans
Mood Disorders / diagnosis
Mood Disorders / epidemiology
Occupational Diseases* / epidemiology
Occupational Stress* / epidemiology
Personality Inventory
Temperament