Healthy Working Lives Group, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Ann Work Expo Health. 2022 Nov 15;66(9):1136-1150. doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxac061.
Despite reported psychological hazards of information technology (IT) work, studies of diagnosed mental health conditions in IT workers are lacking. We investigated self-reported mental health outcomes and incident anxiety/depression in IT workers compared to others in employment in a large population-based cohort.
We evaluated self-reported mental health outcomes in the UK Biobank cohort and incident diagnosed anxiety/depression through health record linkage. We used logistic regression and Cox models to compare the risks of prevalent and incident anxiety/depression among IT workers with all other employed participants. Furthermore, we compared outcomes within IT worker subgroups, and between these subgroups and other similar occupations within their major Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) group.
Of 112 399 participants analyzed, 4093 (3.6%) were IT workers. At baseline, IT workers had a reduced odds (OR = 0.66, 95%CI: 0.52-0.85) of anxiety/depression symptoms and were less likely (OR = 0.87, 95%CI: 0.83-0.91) to have ever attended their GP for anxiety/depression, compared to all other employed participants, after adjustment for confounders. The IT technician subgroup were more likely (OR = 1.22, 95%CI: 1.07-1.40) to have previously seen their GP or a psychiatrist (OR = 1.31, 95%CI: 1.06-1.62) for anxiety/depression than their SOC counterparts. IT workers had lower incident anxiety/depression (HR = 0.84, 95%CI 0.77-0.93) compared to all other employed participants, after adjustment for confounders.
Our findings from this, the first longitudinal study of IT worker mental health, set the benchmark in our understanding of the mental health of this growing workforce and identification of high-risk groups. This will have important implications for targeting mental health workplace interventions.
尽管信息技术（IT）工作存在报告的心理危害，但缺乏针对 IT 工作者诊断出的心理健康状况的研究。我们调查了与就业中的其他人群相比，IT 工作者的自我报告心理健康结果和新发焦虑/抑郁情况。
我们在英国生物库队列中评估了自我报告的心理健康结果，并通过健康记录链接来确定新发诊断的焦虑/抑郁。我们使用逻辑回归和 Cox 模型来比较 IT 工作者与所有其他在职参与者中普遍存在和新发焦虑/抑郁的风险。此外，我们还比较了 IT 工作者亚组内以及这些亚组与他们主要标准职业分类（SOC）组内其他类似职业之间的结果。
在分析的 112399 名参与者中，有 4093 名（3.6%）是 IT 工作者。在基线时，经过混杂因素调整后，与所有其他在职参与者相比，IT 工作者的焦虑/抑郁症状的可能性降低（OR=0.66，95%CI：0.52-0.85），并且去全科医生就诊治疗焦虑/抑郁的可能性更小（OR=0.87，95%CI：0.83-0.91）。与他们的 SOC 同行相比，IT 技术人员亚组更有可能（OR=1.22，95%CI：1.07-1.40）之前曾因焦虑/抑郁就诊于全科医生或精神科医生（OR=1.31，95%CI：1.06-1.62）。与所有其他在职参与者相比，IT 工作者新发焦虑/抑郁的风险较低（HR=0.84，95%CI 0.77-0.93），经过混杂因素调整后。
这是第一项关于 IT 工作者心理健康的纵向研究，我们的研究结果为了解这支不断壮大的劳动力的心理健康状况和确定高风险群体奠定了基础。这对于针对工作场所心理健康干预措施具有重要意义。
