Those who work long hours are more likely to have unmet healthcare needs, the cause of which seems to be lack of time.

BackgroundPresenteeism refers to the phenomenon of working while sick. Its development can be attributed to not only somatic symptoms but also underlying social agreements and workplace atmosphere. In this study, we analyzed presenteeism among workers from various industries, focusing on job-related stress with stratification on the presence of depression.MethodsWe conducted the study with data from questionnaires filled in by different enterprises enrolled in the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. Workers' depressive symptoms were investigated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, while questions on job-related stress and presenteeism were derived from the short form of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale and the official Korean version of the Work-Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire-General Health, respectively. Multilevel logistic analysis was conducted to determine the statistical differences derived from the differences between companies.ResultsIn total, 930 participants (753 men and 177 women) from 59 enterprises participated in the research. We conducted multilevel logistic regression to determine the association between the variables and presenteeism, with stratification by the presence of depression. Higher job demands and higher interpersonal conflict showed significantly elevated odds ratios (ORs) in univariate models and in the multivariate multilevel model. In the final model of total population, fully adjusted by general and work-related characteristics, higher job demands (OR: 3.29, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.08–5.21) and interpersonal conflict (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.29–2.71) had significantly higher ORs—a tendency that remained in participants without depression.ConclusionsThis study reflected the factors associated with presenteeism among workers from various enterprises. The findings revealed that job-related stress was closely related to presenteeism in both the total population and in the population without depression. Thus, it emphasized interventions for managing job stress among workers to reduce presenteeism in general workers' population.

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load (high/middle/low), qualitative overload (high/middle/low), stress with interpersonal relationships (high/middle/low), and job control (high/middle/low), as independent variables. Results Depression tended to be higher in group II of AUDIT (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 0.99 to 1.96, p=0.54) and group III (OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.36 to 4.42, p=0.003). About overtimework, the severe group was more depressive than mild group (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.45 to 3.90, p<0.001). More qualitative overload caused stronger depression (OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.43 to 4.22, p<0.001). Stress with interpersonal relationships also was related to depression (OR: 9.49, 95% CI: 4.94 to 18.22, p<0.001). Conclusion Higher AUDIT score seemed to show higher risk of developing depression. The wrong way of using alcohol may be an exacerbating factor of depression. We should be careful to drinking on the purpose of releasing stress.