Association between occupational stress, social support, and occupational unintentional injuries: a case-control study

Abstract

To evaluate the association between occupational stress, social support, and occupational unintentional injuries. A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted in 151 cases of occupational unintentional injuries who were admitted to 6 occupational injury-admitted hospitals in Zhongshan City from October 2013 to December 2013 and 151 matched controls without unintentional injuries in the last year who had matched age, sex, and occupation. Their demographic characteristics, occupational stress (by the effort-reward imbalance questionnaire), and social support were investigated with a structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data showed that there were significant differences in the score of each dimension of occupational stress, the ratio of effort to reward, and the score of superior support between the case group and the control group (P < 0.05). The Cox regression analysis results showed that more extrinsic efforts (OR = 1.47, 95%CI = 1.20∼1.80) and over commitment (OR = 1.30, 95%CI = 1.08∼1.55) were the risk factors for occupational unintentional injuries, while more superior supports (OR = 0.64, 95%CI = 0.48∼0.84) and higher earnings (>3 000 yuan each month) (OR = 0.67, 95%CI = 0.54∼0.84) were protective factors. Occupational stress and social support have an influence on the occurrence of occupational injuries.