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IntroductionBullying has been described in literature as an important determinant for workers mental health. We aimed to evaluate the association between workplace bullying and common mental disorders in a sample of Brazilian civil servants.MethodsCross-sectional study with a sample of 1883 workers from the Brazilian Federal Judiciary. The Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ-r) was used to measure bullying at work and the Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used to evaluate Common Mental Disorders (CMD). Poisson and logistic regressions were used to test associations of interest, controlling for confounders.ResultsThe overall prevalence of CMD was 27.1%. The prevalence of workplace bullying was 17.0%. In the regression analysis controlling for social, demographic and occupational confounders, workers exposed to occasional bullying (now and then or monthly negative acts) was associated with a 2.17-fold higher prevalence of CMD (p<0.001). Subjects exposed to bullying frequently (weekly or daily negative acts) presented a 4.78-fold higher prevalence of CMD than those who did not suffer bullying (p<0.001).DiscussionVery few studies on the association between bullying and mental health in low and middle income countries are published. Our findings corroborate the results of longitudinal studies from high-income countries, where bullying appears to be an important determinant of worse mental health. Prevention actions to eliminate bullying in organisations are urgent, in order to preserve workers mental health. Civil servants are at high risk of being exposed to bullying, worsening their health condition.

Introduction Workplace social capital (WSC) is hypothesised to be beneficial for employee health. We sought to examine the association between changes in WSC in relation to changes in HbA1c levels. Methods Analyses included 2778 men and 684 women aged 65 and under working at six companies in Japan from the J-HOPE Study. The first survey was conducted between October 2010 and December 2011, and two follow-up surveys were conducted at approximately annual intervals. Questionnaires inquiring about workplace social capital and other characteristics were administered at each survey. Blood samples were obtained from participants at baseline and at the following two surveys. Linear regression analysis was performed to assess the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between WSC and HbA1c levels using Generalised Estimating Equations. Result For women, higher level of WSC was cross-sectionally associated with lower HbA1c (standardised regression coefficient (b) À0.020, 95% CI: À0.033 to À0.007). Longitudinally, similar associations were observed (b À0.016, 95% CI: À0.030 to À0.003). No association was found among men. All explanatory variables were standardised before inclusion in each analysis. Discussion WSC may have beneficial effects on glycometabolism in working women. The gender difference in associations may be partially explained by the socio-cultural context. Our findings lend weight to the notion that the pattern of association between WSC and HbA1c is both culturally contingent and gender-specifi.