Prevalence and Determinants of Job Stress in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND Psychosocial factors have been shown to predict a poor disease course in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but whether this applies to job stress is currently unknown. We assessed the prevalence of job stress and its correlates in a large cohort of patients with IBD. METHODS We included all adult, professionally active patients enrolled between 2006 and 2015 in the Swiss IBD Cohort. Job stress was measured through the self-report effort-reward imbalance ratio and overcommitment (OC) to work questionnaires. We used multiple linear regressions to assess association with sociodemographic, lifestyle, psychosocial, and disease-related factors. RESULTS Altogether 1656 patients completed the questionnaires (905 Crohn's disease and 751 ulcerative colitis/IBD unclassified). Only 91 (5.7%) of patients had an effort-reward imbalance ratio >1. Effort-reward imbalance and OC scores were higher in full-time versus part-time employees (coef = 0.050, P = 0.002; coef = 0.906, P < 0.001) and among those absent from the workplace in the previous 3 months (coef = 0.049, P = 0.010; coef = 1.062, P < 0.001). Higher OC scores were associated with sex (women vs. men: coef = 0.568, P = 0.014), being in a relationship (coef = 0.805, P = 0.001), higher level of occupation (director vs. trainee: coef = 1.447, P < 0.001), and extraintestinal manifestations (coef = 0.623, P = 0.005). Patients hospitalized in the previous 12 months had lower OC scores (coef = 0.560, P = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS The average level of job stress seems to be remarkably low in patients with IBD from Switzerland. The clinician should turn attention especially to women, full-time employees with a high level of education, and patients with extraintestinal manifestations to identify those with the most vulnerability to suffer from job stress.

Abdominal Pain and Disturbed Bowel Movements are Frequent among Young People. A Population Based Study in Young Participants of the Woodstock Rock Festival in Poland

“…Similar results were observed in individuals diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), where work-related stress was measured with the aid of a special questionnaire and scores. As shown in the study, overcommitment scores were higher in relation to full-time employees with a high level of education [33]. These data also add to the evidence of the importance of gut-brain communication and its role in the development of gastrointestinal symptoms [34].…”

Impact of inflammatory bowel diseases on working life: A French nationwide survey

“…Stress at work is reported in other publications but data is not homogenous. In a Swiss cohort of more than 1,500 IBD patients, the prevalence of job stress was remarkably low (5.7%), but three factors were associated with a higher level: female gender, full-time contract, and extra-intestinal manifestations [31].…”