Correlates of Depression in the Slovenian Working Population

Abstract

This multicentre, cross-sectional observational study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression among the working population of Slovenia and identify factors correlating with higher prevalence of depression. It was conducted in three occupational medicine practices within major Slovenian primary health care centres. The study population consisted of 1,474 respondents [73.7% of the invited participants, 889 (60.3%) men and 585 (39.7%) women with mean age of (40.5±9.8) years] who visited these practices for their regular check-ups from November 2010 to June 2012 and were asked to fill in a self-developed questionnaire and score depression on the Zung's self-rating depression scale. According to the rating, 50 (3.4%) respondents suffered from depression. In the multivariate analysis, depression correlated with the following independent variables: self-perceived exposure to chronic stress, positive family history of depression, and primary school education.