STUDY OF WORK STRESS AND HEALTH：1.ASSOCIATION OF WORK-RELATED FACTORS AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK : EDUCATION AS A POSSIBLE MODIFYING FACTOR 2.ASSOCIATION OF SLEEP WITH FATIGUE AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERS

• Main Authors: Yuan Horng Yan, 嚴元鴻
• Other Authors: 鄭尊仁
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/483srv

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 職業醫學與工業衛生研究所 === 94 === 1. Education as a possible modifying factor on the relationship between work-related factors and cardiovascular risk The association between cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and work-related factors has been studied with inconsistent results. We conducted a cross-sectional study to further investigate the relationship between several work-related factors and cardiovascular risk. A total of 239 men who received health examination in one medical center were enrolled and their basic data, physical examination results and biochemical values were collected. We used questionnaires to measure work-related factors including occupational categories, work hours, activity at work and sleep quality. We divided our subjects into low (10 Year CHD Risk<5%) and high (>5%) risk groups by Framingham Risk Score (FRS), which has been used to represent the risk of coronary heart disease. Since socioeconomic status (SES) is an important risk factor for CVD, the analysis on the association between cardiovascular risk and work-related factors was further stratified by the variable of education. In the high education group, white collar workers had higher cardiovascular risk than managers/professionals (OR=3.2, p<0.05), while the self-employed workers did not have higher OR. In the low education group, OR for cardiovascular risk were lower for all job categories as compared to managers/professionals. High risk group had longer work hours than low risk group in the low education group, while the trend was opposite in the high education group. Further, the cardiovascular risk for activity at work and sleep quality were different between high and low education groups. Our results suggest the relationship between work-related factors and CVD may be modified by education level. 2. Association of Sleep with Fatigue and Quality of Life in Software Engineers Software engineers are knowledge workers of professional skills with high education level. They are over-commitment to work and put their leisure and sleep time to work. The work characteristic of software engineers is not easy to be investigated only by working time. Sleep seems a better indicator to reflect work stress. Work stress can lead to fatigue and influence quality of life (QOL). Previous studies have indicated sleeping hours is related to QOL. To investigate the impact of sleep quality on fatigue status and QOL in software engineers, we conducted a cross-sectional study on 239 workers (male workers：73%, average age：32 years old, 70% single) in an information-technology (IT) company. The psychophysical outcome of fatigue status was assessed using the Need for Recovery questionnaire (NFR). Quality of sleep was directly asked using the indicators of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) including subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep disturbance, use of sleep medication, day-time dysfunction and sleep duration. QOL was estimated by World Health Organization quality of life instrument (WHOQOL-BREF). Results revealed sleep quality was significantly related with fatigue status and QOL. Poor sleep quality was associated with high fatigue status and low QOL scores. Working time was weak related to fatigue and QOL. Our findings suggest that work hours and sleep quality representing work stress were associated with the fatigue status and QOL of software engineers. Sleep quality may be a better indicator for work stress and its influence than working time. To maintain the lower fatigue status and higher quality of life, it may be necessary to monitor their sleep quality in addition to their working time. Further studies are needed to clarify the relationships of work stress, work hours, sleep, fatigue and QOL.