Investigation of Relationship between Occupational Stress and Cardiovascular Risk Factors among Nurses.

BACKGROUND: One of the major causes of various work-related health problems among nurses is occupational stress. Hence, the main purpose of the present research was to find association between occupational stress of nurses and risk factors of cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the Osipow job stress questionnaire was employed to assess the occupational stress among the 250 nurses in Emam Khomeini hospital of Tehran in 2018. Based on stress score for participants, subjects divided into two groups: Scoring of group one was 60-179 (mild and average stress) and group two between 180 and 300 (average to acute and acute stress). Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were recorded for subjects after 10hrs fasting. Then the blood samples were collected to measure cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose levels. For determining the association between education level, job experience and study groups, the Chi-square test and for comparing job stress between two groups of study the Mann-Whitney U test was used. RESULTS: Subjects with job stress in group one was 70(28%) and group two was 180(72%). The association between level of education and two study groups was not significant (P=0.129) while between job experience and two study groups was significant (P=0.004). Mean of Blood glucose levels for group I (98.0± 37.5), was higher than group II (82.5±12.0) and statistically significant (P=0.001). No significant difference was found between two groups of study for other parameters. CONCLUSION: High level of work-related stress among subjects affected the values related to blood glucose level, but no significant relationship was found between other risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and occupational stress among nurses.

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in drivers: A meta-analysis and systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic syndrome is an increasing disorder, especially in night workers. Drivers are considered to work during 24 hours a day. Because of job characteristics such as stress, low mobility and long working hours, they are at risk of a metabolic syndrome disorder. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is a meta-analysis and systematic review of the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in drivers. METHODS: In this systematic review, articles were extracted from national and international databases: Scientific Information Database (SID), Iran Medex, Mag Iran, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, ProQuest, and Scopus. Data analysis was performed using meta-analysis and systematic review (random effect model). The calculation of heterogeneity was carried out using the I2 index and Cochran's Q test. All statistical analyses were performed using STATA software version 11. RESULTS: A total of nine articles related to the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in drivers in different regions of the world from 2008 to 2016 were obtained. The total sample size studied was 26156 with an average of 2906 samples per study. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in drivers was 34% (95% CI: 30-37)CONCLUSIONS:According to the results of this study, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in drivers is high. Occupational stress, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity cannot be cited as causes of metabolic syndrome prevalence in drivers. Therefore, to maintain and to improve the health of this group, the implementation of preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitation measures for these people as well as training should be considered.

Investigation of the relationship between the safety climate and occupational fatigue among the nurses of educational hospitals in Zabol.

INTRODUCTION: Some working and organizational conditions, such as psychological stress and shift work, are factors that threaten the health of staff working in health centers. These factors can cause fatigue in a long time. Fatigue reduces the ability to process information and decrease to respond to hazardous conditions and will affect the safety of the environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between safety climate and occupational fatigue in nurses working in Zabol city. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on 143 nurses working in educational hospitals of Zabol in 2019. The proportional sampling method was used, and the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Questionnaire and the Nurses Safety Questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and SPSS-21 software. RESULTS: In the present study, 57.3% were women and 42.7% were men. The mean score of occupational fatigue was 85.09 ± 41.49, and the mean score of safety climate was 67.15 ± 12.73. There is a significant inverse relationship between occupational fatigue and safety climate. The comparison of safety climate and its subscales between occupational and demographic variables showed that the score of male supervisors' attitude was 01.36 ± 2.41 while the score of female supervisors' attitude was 8.88 ± 2.61, and this difference was significant. Furthermore, cumulative burnout, the attitude of supervisors, and the safety climate were significantly different between different educational levels. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that there is a relationship between occupational fatigue and safety climate. Issues related to safety and risk factors in hospitals due to the high risk of disease outbreak and mortality, in addition to being economical, are important in terms of the human aspect as well. In addition, the activity of nursing staff is more important compared to other groups because of providing health care and communicating with patients; thus, more education about the safety climate of the workplace environment in hospitals can reduce nurses' fatigue.