Working conditions, medical support and morbidity of stress-related neurotic disorders among Russian Railways employees

Abstract

Introduction. Shift work, as the main stress factor, leads to the development of desynchronosis and other neurotic diseases. The production necessity with such a work schedule requires increased provision of mental health specialists.
 The study aims to analyze the long-term dynamics of morbidity of employees of JSC "Russian Railways" with neurotic diseases associated with stress and somatoform disorders, depending on the intensity of work, availability of specialists responsible for psychoprophylactic work.
 Materials and methods. Scientists investigated the working conditions and their influence on the functional state of employees of JSC "Russian Railways". The authors have carried out a retrospective analysis of information from the Unified Medical Information and Analytical System from 2012–2021 for JSC "Russian Railways" and the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation. The analysis of morbidity in mental pathology included nosological units assigned by ICD-10 to F40–F48.
 Results. Work in the system of JSC "Russian Railways" is associated with the impact of a complex of unfavorable production factors, the key of which are psycho-emotional stress and shift work schedule — work in night shifts. Railway transport workers face various stressful factors on a daily basis, such as: desynchronosis due to shift work schedules, waiting for an emergency situation with a "system call", "broken" schedules, and related difficulties. The psychogenic factor, which is an etiological factor in the occurrence of neurotic disorders, constantly affects railway transport workers. Based on the analyzed data, it can be assumed that professionally conditioned factors of the working environment contribute to the formation of occupational stress and the formation of neurotic disorders among this category of workers. There is a connection with the growth of neurotic diseases and the annual trend of declining positions of psychologists and psychotherapists in the system of JSC "Russian Railways". There was a significant increase in the incidence of railway transport workers (p=0.043) and a decrease in specialists associated with the prevention of neuropsychiatric diseases for ten years (p=0.0001).
 Limitations. Limitations are presented in the form of a small sample of employees of JSC "Russian Railways", insufficient depth of study of materials of foreign literature on the issue under study.
 Conclusions. Neurotic disorders in persons who are under dispensary supervision in the system of JSC "Russian Railways" have a pronounced, statistically significant growth trend. There is a significant decrease in the number of medical specialists engaged in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of psychogenic diseases of workers. Based on the results of the study, we have revealed a link between the growth of neurotic diseases of railway transport workers and the annual decline trend of psychologists and psychotherapists in JSC "Russian Railways".
 Ethics. This study was carried out in accordance with the rules of good clinical practice and the Helsinki Declaration and did not require the conclusion of the ethics committee.