A Cross-sectional Survey on Occupational Stress and Associated Dyslipidemia Among Medical Staff in Tertiary Public Hospitals in Wenzhou, China

Introduction: Occupational stress is considered to be a harmful physical and emotional response to an individual's psychological and/or physiological state in the work environment and is highly prevalent among medical staff. However, few epidemiological studies have investigated occupational stress in medical staff. Our study aims to explore the characteristics of occupational stress and its relationship with dyslipidemia in Chinese medical staff at tertiary hospitals and establish the basis for future preventive strategies.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in three tertiary public hospitals in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. Data were collected using random sampling procedures to examine demographic characteristics and job-related data. The participants completed the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised (OSI-R) questionnaires and serum lipids tests. Partial correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between occupational stress and dyslipidemia.

Results: A total of 1,176 medical staff responses to questionnaires were obtained. The occupational stress levels of medical staff were higher than those of normative populations, while their coping resources were lower. Most of the subscales of occupational stress demonstrated higher results for doctors and males than for nurses and females with crude analyses. Each subscale of OSI-R was found to be associated with a different type of blood lipid level.

Conclusions: The occupational stress level of medical staff in tertiary public hospitals in Wenzhou was high, and occupational stress may contribute to dyslipidemia. An investigation into occupational stress levels and their association with dyslipidemia in this population could draw more attention to medical staff in tertiary public hospitals.