Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Str. 55, 04103 Leipzig, Germany ; LIFE - Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Str. 55, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
J Occup Med Toxicol. 2014 May 28;9:23. doi: 10.1186/1745-6673-9-23. eCollection 2014.
The level of mental demands in the workplace is rising. The present study investigated whether and how mental demands at work are associated with cognitive functioning in the general population.
The analysis is based on data of the Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Disease (LIFE). 2,725 participants aged 40-80 years underwent cognitive testing (Trail-Making Test, Verbal Fluency Test) and provided information on their occupational situation. Participants over the age of 65 years additionally completed the Mini-Mental State Examination. Mental demands at work were rated by a standardized classification system (O*NET). The association between mental demands and cognitive functioning was analyzed using Generalized Linear Modeling (GENLIN) adjusted for age, gender, self-regulation, working hour status, education, and health-related factors.
Univariate as well as multivariate analyses demonstrated significant and highly consistent effects of higher mental demands on better performance in cognitive testing. The results also indicated that the effects are independent of education and intelligence. Moreover, analyses of retired individuals implied a significant association between high mental demands at work of the job they once held and a better cognitive functioning in old age.
In sum, our findings suggest a significant association between high mental demands at work and better cognitive functioning. In this sense, higher levels of mental demands - as brought about by technological changes in the working environment - may also have beneficial effects for the society as they could increase cognitive capacity levels and might even delay cognitive decline in old age.
职场的精神需求水平正在上升。本研究旨在探讨工作中的精神需求是否以及如何与普通人群的认知功能相关。
该分析基于莱比锡文明病研究中心（LIFE）健康研究的数据。2725 名年龄在 40-80 岁的参与者接受了认知测试（连线测试、词语流畅性测试），并提供了其职业状况信息。65 岁以上的参与者还完成了简易精神状态检查。工作中的精神需求通过标准化分类系统（O*NET）进行评估。使用广义线性建模（GENLIN）调整年龄、性别、自我调节、工作时间状况、教育和与健康相关的因素后，分析了精神需求与认知功能之间的关联。
单变量和多变量分析都表明，较高的精神需求与认知测试中的较好表现之间存在显著且高度一致的关系。结果还表明，这些影响独立于教育和智力。此外，对退休人员的分析表明，他们曾经从事的工作中的高精神需求与老年时更好的认知功能之间存在显著关联。
总之，我们的研究结果表明，工作中的高精神需求与更好的认知功能之间存在显著关联。从这个意义上说，工作环境中的技术变化带来的更高水平的精神需求——也可能对社会产生有益的影响，因为它们可以提高认知能力水平，甚至可以延缓老年时的认知衰退。
