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R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E Open Access
A systematic review including meta-analysis
of work environment and depressive symptoms
Töres Theorell
1,2*
, Anne Hammarström
3
, Gunnar Aronsson
4
, Lil Träskman Bendz
5
, Tom Grape
6
, Christer Hogstedt
7
,
Ina Marteinsdottir
8
, Ingmar Skoog
9
and Charlotte Hall
10
Abstract
Background: Depressive symptoms are potential outcomes of poorly functioning work environments. Such
symptoms are frequent and cause considerable suffering for the employees as well as financial loss for the employers.
Accordingly good prospective studies of psychosocial working conditions and depressive symptoms are valuable.
Scientific reviews of such studies have pointed at methodological difficulties but still established a few job risk factors.
Those reviews were published some years ago. There is need for an updated systematic review using the GRADE
system. In addition, gender related questions have been insufficiently reviewed.
Method: Inclusion criteria for the studies published 1990 to June 2013: 1. European and English speaking countries. 2.
Quantified results describing the relationship between exposure (psychosocial or physical/chemical) and outcome
(standardized questionnaire assessment of depressive symptoms or interview-based clinical depression). 3. Prospective
or comparable case-control design with at least 100 participants. 4. Assessments of exposure (working conditions) and
outcome at baseline and outcome (depressive symptoms) once again after follow-up 1-5 years later. 5. Adjustment for
age and adjustment or stratification for gender.
Studies filling inclusion criteria were subjected to assessment of 1.) relevance and 2.) quality using predefined
criteria. Systematic review of the evidence was made using the GRADE system. When applicable, meta-analysis of
the magnitude of associations was made. Consistency of findings was examined for a number of possible
confounders and publication bias was discussed.
Results: Fifty-nine articles of high or medium high scientific quality were included. Moderately strong evidence
(grade three out of four) was found for job strain (high psychological demands and low decision latitude), low
decision latitude and bullying having significant impact on development of depressive symptoms. Limited
evidence (grade two) was shown for psychological demands, effort reward imbalance, low support, unfavorable
social climate, lack of work justice, conflicts, limited skill discretion, job insecurity and long working hours. There
was no differential gender effect of adverse job conditions on depressive symptoms
Conclusion: There is substantial empirical evidence that employees, both men and women, who report lack of
decision latitude, job strain and bullying, will experience increasing depressive symptoms over time. These
conditions are amenable to organizational interventions.
Keywords: Depression, Work stress, Prevention, Ergonomic, Toxicology
* Correspondence: tores.theorell@stressforskning.su.se
1
Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm,
Sweden
2
Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE- 171 77 Stockholm,
Sweden
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© 2015 Theorell et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://
creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738
DOI 10.1186/s12889-015-1954-4
Background
Depressive symptoms are potential outcomes of poorly
functioning work environments. Such symptoms are fre-
quent and may cause considerable suffering for the em-
ployees themselves as well as financial loss for the
employers. Accordingly good prospective studies of psy-
chosocial working conditions and depressive symptoms are
valuable.
Several reviews including prospective studies of
psychosocial factors at work in relation to depression
have been published. Bonde [1] concluded that there
were consistent findings that perception of adverse psy-
chosocial factors in the workplace is related to an ele-
vated risk of subsequent depressive symptoms or major
depressive episode but also that methodological limita-
tions preclude causal inference. Netterström et al. [2]
made a similar conclusion but pointed out that studies
are needed that assess in more detail the duration and
intensity of exposure necessary for developing depres-
sion. The conclusions in a review by Siegrist from the
same year [3] were similar. Also, Michie and Williams
[4] concluded that”many of the work related variables
associated with high levels of psychological ill health, are
potentially amenable to change which has been shown
in intervention studies that have successfully improved
psychological health and reduced sickness absence”.A
review of psychosocial and health effects of workplace
reorganization by Egan et al. [5] concluded that”some
organizational-level participation interventions may
benefit employee health, as predicted by the demand-
control model”. However, several other psychosocial
exposures should be examined more in detail.
Most of the work environment reviews published so far
have not been confined to depression only - they have
included for instance stress related disorders, psychologic-
ally related sick leave and suicide or combinations [4, 6–8]
as outcomes, and it has sometimes been difficult to disen-
tangle them. Studied work environment factors have
mostly been limited to psychosocial factors although two
reviews have included physical/chemical/ergonomic expo-
sures as well. The conclusion from them [4, 7] was that
the evidence for physical/chemical/ergonomic exposures
is limited and inconclusive. Nieuwenhuijsen et al. [8] pub-
lished a review of the effects of the psychosocial environ-
ment on risk of stress-related disorders (SRDs) and
concluded that there is”strong evidence that high job de-
mands, low job control, low co-worker support, low
supervisor support, low procedural justice and a high ef-
fort- reward imbalance predicted the incidence of SRDs”.
In summary, the evidence about the negative impact
of certain work environments for depressive symptoms
is accumulating but so far there has been no review
taking the entire spectrum of adverse working condi-
tions into account and at the same time focusing on
depressive conditions/symptoms as outcome. Most of
the reviews have used multiple kinds of mental health
outcomes. However, depression is the most widely re-
ported outcome in the field of mental health in epi-
demiological research. Depressive symptoms are well
understood in psychiatry which has resulted in a large
number of studies. Accordingly this outcome should
provide a good basis for a focused systematic review. As
far as the authors know there is no published study that
has used the international GRADE system [9] for evalu-
ating the evidence in this field. In addition there is a
need for a systematic review utilizing the most recent
developments in search technology.
An important aspect of the systematic review process
is to systematically and transparently assess the scientific
evidence. We have chosen to use the internationally rec-
ognized GRADE- system for scientific evaluation. The
GRADE system uses four levels of evidence, namely
High, Moderate, Limited and Very Limited. We are well
aware that the system has been developed primarily for
assessing interventions in a health care context, but the
system has been adapted to epidemiological evaluation.
Beside the transparency, an advantage is that the
GRADE system [9] - a system often applied in reviews
conducted within the Cochrane Collaboration - is in-
creasingly used internationally e.g., by the World Health
Organization. Hence results from systematic reviews can
be more easily compared.
Time has elapsed since most of the previous reviews
were published and new studies are published continu-
ously. The most relevant reviews were published in 2008.
They pointed at several methodological shortcomings,
and it is not known whether researchers more recently
have tried to address the identified scientific problems. In
particular, the reviews have pointed at the paucity of stud-
ies on physical/chemical/ergonomic exposures.
A topic that has not been addressed sufficiently in pre-
vious reviews is gender in the relationship between
working conditions and the development of depressive
symptoms. Are the associations different for men and
women?
Aim of the study
The aim of this study was to provide systematically
graded evidence for possible associations between work
environment factors and near-future development of de-
pressive symptoms
Methods
The present review was based upon studies with a pro-
spective design and is focused on the relationship
between working conditions and development of symp-
toms of depression among the employees.. We con-
ducted and funded this systematic review within the
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 2 of 14
framework for the Swedish Council on Health and Tech-
nology Assessment, a public agency with the charge of
providing impartial and scientifically reliable information
to decision makers and health care providers [10].
Search strategy
Systematic literature search was performed in the following
data bases: PubMed, Embase, Psycinfo, Arbline (Swedish
database), Cochrane library and NIOSHTIC-2. A combin-
ation of controlled search words (e.g., MeSH) and free- text
words was used. The search strategy for the outcome was
performed for mesh terms (‘Depression’and ‘Depressive
Disorders’) and as free search in title and abstract (depress*
and dysthym*). The whole search strategy is available at
http://www.sbu.se/upload/Publikationer/Content0/1/223E/
Inclusion%20criteria_occupational%20exposure_depression
_burnout.pdf. We only accepted as articles in scientific
journals with independent reviews.
Inclusion criteria
The inclusion criteria for studies were:
1. The study should have examined the importance of
the work environment for depressive symptoms.
Our review was not confined to any specific kind of
work environment factors. Physical/chemical/
ergonomic exposures as well as psychosocial factors
were screened.
2. The study should be relevant for Swedish conditions
and focused on people at work. Work environments
in Europe, North America, Australia and New
Zealand were included.
3. In the study symptoms of depression should have
been analyzed. These should have have been
certified through diagnostic investigation or with
established scales. We argued that not only
diagnosed major depression, but also milder states
with depressive symptoms are relevant since
depressive feelings give rise to suffering, increase the
risk of long term sick leave and cause productivity
decline and quality loss in work places [11]. Thus,
our review included both studies with standardized
clinical interviews regarding diagnosed depression
and studies based upon rating scales on depressive
symptoms. As diagnosed depression is also to a large
extent based on symptoms we decided that the most
accurate naming of the outcome of our review was
depressive symptoms. A few studies were based
upon either sick leave data or registered anti-
depression medication as outcome but these studies
are not included in this review.
4. A minimum of 100 persons should have been
included in the exposed group and the results were
controlled for at least age and gender.
5. The study should have been published between the
years 1990 and (June) 2013 and written in English.
6. Prospective or comparable case-control design. Only
prospective cohort, case control (with design equivalent
to prospective) and randomized intervention studies
with at least 100 participants were included. By case
control studies with “design equivalent to prospective”
we are referring to studies with strict definition of cases
recruited in a representative way in the same
population as the control group.
Assessments of exposure should have been made be-
fore disease onset.
Doublets were systematically identified and only the
most relevant publication in a doublet was included.
Analyses of relevance and quality
Abstract screening and full-text assessment were con-
ducted by a specialist in occupational medicine and a
psychiatrist.
After that, the scientific experts started their examin-
ation. Pre-set evaluation forms were used. The experts
judged relevance and quality of the studies on the basis
of the relevance/quality criteria, their experience as re-
searchers and their knowledge of the field. Accordingly
they were recruited among Swedish academic high
ranking specialists in fields of relevance for the process,
namely psychiatry (three), epidemiology and stress re-
search (three), work psychology (one) and family prac-
tice (one). This group was divided into pairs with as
widely differing specialty in the pair as possible. In the
following process, the articles remaining in the process
were randomly assigned to the four pairs (with avoid-
ance of author bias). Concordance in judgments of rele-
vance and quality was trained. After the training
session, each member of the pair did the assessments
separately, and then discordances were discussed within
the pair. If disagreement remained another pair was
asked to make an independent judgment. If that deci-
sion was in disagreement with the first group, we made
the decision in the whole group.
In the first expert phase, the group judged relevance.
Relevance criteria are presented in http://www.sbu.se/up-
load/Publikationer/Content0/1/223E/Inclusion%20criteria
_occupational%20exposure_depression_burnout.pdf.
Secondly, we performed a quality assessment. Three
levels of quality rating were used, (low, medium high
and high quality) and in the final grading process only
those with medium high and high quality were accepted.
Accordingly the important dividing line was between
poor and medium high quality whereas the distinction
between medium high and high was less crucial. Studies
on the borderline between low and medium high quality
were accordingly re-examined by the whole group. A list
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 3 of 14
of relevant articles meeting the inclusion criteria judged
to be of low quality is available at http://www.sbu.se/up-
load/Publikationer/Content0/1/223E/Inclusion%20cri-
teria_occupational%20exposure_depression_burnout.pdf
The following aspects of quality were considered:
1.) Representativeness of study sample.
Representativeness and ways of defining and
recruiting the sample as well as attrition in different
steps were considered in the quality rating.
Statistical considerations and an insightful discussion
of possible consequences of a possible systematic
drop-out for findings were required in case of
marked drop-out problems.
2.) Confounding. Age and at least some aspe ct of
socioeconomic conditions should have been
considered. Gender specific analyses were preferred
but when such analyses were not available,
adjustment for gender was required. Life habits such
as smoking habits and alcohol consumption were
not taken into account as confounders in our
review.
3.) Prospective data collection. All results of the studies
included in this review (apart from case-control
studies) are based upon assessments of exposure and
depressive symptoms in the beginning and of the
depressive symptoms again at least one year later. In
the calculations of associations a design with either
exclusion of subjects with depressive symptoms at
baseline or adjustment for baseline level of depressive
symptoms was required. Qualified statistics and
thorough discussion of longitudinal data rendered
higher quality ratings.
4.) For both exposure and outcome assessment,
psychometrically standardized and validated
methods were required. Well established methods
enable comparison across studies and therefore
contributed to higher quality rating.
5.) Designs that enable the analysis of a dose response
relationship contributed to a high quality rating. For
instance, in a few studies the work environment was
assessed in two or three subsequent waves and the
development of depressive symptoms followed up
after the last assessment. Exposure to given work
environment factor on one, two or three occasions
could be regarded as a progressive duration of
exposure and was regarded as equivalent of a dose-
response analysis.
Even between studies of specific work environment
factors there were differences with regard to operationa-
lization of exposure. Examples are job strain (combin-
ation of high psychological demands and low decision
latitude) and effort reward imbalance (combination of
high effort and poor reward). Since the overall aim of
the present study was to grade total evidence, not to as-
sess magnitude of associations, and since it was impos-
sible to re-construct operationalizations in such a way
that they would match one another we decided to use
the definitions presented by the authors themselves and
to mostly abstain from assessment of overall magnitude
of the different relationships.
The final list of studies judged to be of high or
medium high quality is listed in Appendix.
GRADE procedure
An important aspect of the systematic review process
was to systematically and transparently assess the scien-
tific evidence. According to the GRADE instructions
explicit consideration should be given to each of the
GRADEcriteriaforassessingthequalityofevidence
(risk of bias/study limitations, directness, consistency of
results, precision, publication bias, magnitude of the ef-
fect, dose-response gradient, influence of residual plaus-
ible confounding and bias “antagonistic bias”)although
different terminology may be used. For level 4 (=High),
randomized trials are required and there were no such
published relevant studies in our search. For observa-
tional studies of the kind included in the present review,
the highest possible grade is Moderate = 3 if there is
sufficient reason for an upgrading from the normal level
for such studies of 2 (=Limited). Level 1 (=Very limited)
corresponds to evidence based on case reports and case
series or on reports downgraded evidence from observa-
tional studies.
We allowed for upgrading the scientific evidence
when there was strong coherence of results between
studies - according to the most recent guidelines [12].
Accordingly when there were many published observa-
tional studies of medium high or high quality with
homogenous results (almost all pointing in the same
direction although all findings may not have been statis-
tically significant) the evidence was graded on level 3
(two exposures, high decision latitude as protective and
job strain as negative exposure, see below). Level 3 can
also be used according to the GRADE system even when
there are relatively few studies if there are unanimous
findings with high odds ratios (above 2.0). This occurred
for one exposure –bullying (see below).
Meta-analyses/Forest plots
In the studies results were reported as calculations of
association, e.g., expressed as odds ratios, from mul-
tiplelogisticregression,multivariatecorrelationsor
multiple linear regression coefficients. Whenever pos-
sible, the results were transformed into multiple logis-
tic regression odds ratios. Forest plots were used for
visual interpretation. To assist in illustrating the
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 4 of 14
results, and as a contribution to the overall assess-
ment, these forest plots (meta-analyses) were con-
ducted when in at least two studies the same risk
factor was analysed and mathematically comparable
data was provided using the Comprehensive Meta-
Analysis software package (www.meta-analysis.com/
index.php). Since the participants in the various stud-
ies might be construed as coming from the same popu-
lation (workers) or from different populations (i.e.,
according to each study’s inclusion criteria) we chose
to use a fixed effects model. The strength of the scien-
tificevidence,usingdatafromalloftheincludedstud-
ies (not just those illustrated in the meta-analyses),
was determined by pairs of the authors of this paper
and then discussed and confirmed by all authors. In-
formal homogeneity tests were performed in order to
compare results from studies using standardized de-
pression interviews versus self-reported question-
naires, high quality versus medium high quality
studies, general population studies versus specific oc-
cupational cohorts and men versus women. In these
tests, we conducted sub-analyses of the presented find-
ings and compared results between the sub-categories,
e.g., if the association between job exposure and de-
pressive symptoms differed according to the instru-
ment used for assessing the symptoms.
Ethics
All studies perused in this review have been approved by
the scientific ethical committees in their universities.
They have all been published in international scientific
journals with peer review. Accordingly, no additional
ethical approval has been required.
Results
Figure 1 shows the number of articles that were perused
in the different steps. The process also included burnout
as outcome. The results of the burnout review will be
reported elsewhere. Altogether 20 828 articles were
screened in the initial search process, and 488 of those
were eligible in the review of depressive symptoms
(and 202 for the review of burnout). 324 full text articles
with depression as outcome were found not to fill inclu-
sion criteria. Hence, 164 studies remained for relevance
assessment. 84 of those were judged as not relevant and
hence 80 studies were assessed with regard to quality. 19
were judged to be of high, 40 of moderately high and 21
of low quality. The grading of evidence has been based
upon the 59 relevant studies with high/medium high
quality. A detailed table showing the full results of the
data extraction is available at http://www.sbu.se/upload/
Publikationer/Content0/1/223E/Inclusion%20criteria_
occupational%20exposure_depression_burnout.pdf.
Fig. 1 Flow chart of the literature search, screening, review- and quality assessment
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 5 of 14
Most studies were based on population samples al-
though studies of samples from companies and occupa-
tional groups were also present. Few studies that were
judged to be relevant were based upon objective assess-
ments of exposure. Subjective assessments based upon
standardized and validated questionnaires (for instance
demand/control/support, effort/reward, procedural just-
ice and bullying) were used in most studies. The most
widely used established questionnaires rendered high
quality ratings. With regard to depression outcome,
both standardized interviews (mostly Composite Inter-
national Diagnostic Interview, CIDI) performed by
trained interviewers and different versions of standard-
ized questionnaires (such as Center for Epidemiological
Studies- Depression Scale, CES-D, and Hospital Anx-
iety and Depression Scale, HAD, and Hamilton Depres-
sion Scale, HRSD) for depressive symptoms were used.
Table 1 shows the results of the evidence grading
process. Three exposures, two harmful (job strain and
bullying) and one protective (control/decision latitude)
were judged to have moderate evidence (grade 3) while
18 exposures were judged to have limited (grade 2)
evidence. Ten exposures were judged to have very lim-
ited evidence (grade 1). Three of the exposures judged
to have very limited evidence were related to heavy
metals and other chemical exposures. The most exten-
sively studied factors were decision latitude (158 251
subjects in 19 studies) and job strain - the combination
Table 1 A summary of the scientific evidence for variables with sufficient data to draw a conclusion on the association between
work environment factors and future depressive symptoms
Work-related factor Participants Studies Scientific evidence
Relationship between occupational environment and less depressive symptoms
Control 158 251 19
Relationship between occupational environment and more depressive symptoms
Demands - psychological job demands 53 985 10
Job strain 197 682 14
Passive job (low decision latitude, low job demands) 11 419 2
High pressure job 34 554 5
Effort reward imbalance 27 136 3
Low support at the work place 82 772 17
- Low supervisor support 50 935 8
- Low co-worker support 27 170 6
Poor social climate at the work place 9 242 2
Poor social capital at the work place 59 340 2
Low work place justice 33 589 5
- Procedural injustice 33 589 5
- Relational injustice 30 761 3
Work place conflicts 13 732 3
- Conflicts with superiors 9 692 2
- Conflicts with co-workers 9 692 2
Bullying 15 173 3
Low job development 15 173 4
Job insecurity 24 833 7
Long working week 13 107 6
The scientific evidence is in-sufficient ( ) to determine if there is a relationship between the following occupational factors and depressive symptoms/
Demands (several types of demands), Demands (emotional), Distributive justice, Threats, Violence, Irregular, Irregular work hours, Physically
demanding work, Pesticides, Solvents, Heavy metals
- There is scientific evidence for an association between exposure and outcome. The result is based on studies of high or moderate quality. The quality of
evidence has been upgraded due to consistency of the data (control and job strain) or large magnitude of effect (bullying)
- There is scientific evidence for an association between exposure and outcome. The result is based on studies of high or moderate quality
- It is not possible to determine if there is any association between exposure and outcome. The motivation is that one or several conditions apply:
1) no study fulfilled the inclusion criteria, 2) none of the studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were relevant to the hypothesis tested in the present
review, 3) all relevant studies were of low quality or 4) studies were of high or moderate quality - but one or several limitations applied, e.g. inconsistency of
data between studies
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 6 of 14
of high psychological demands and low decision latitude
(197 682 subjects in 14 studies). It was possible to com-
pute a weighted odds ratio 1.74 (95 % CI 1.54 to 1.96 for
studies with odds ratio calculations). A high decision
latitude protected statistically against worsening depres-
sive symptoms –with a weighted odds ratio of 0.73
(95 % CI 0.68 to 0.77). Bullying had been studied in 15
173 subjects in three studies. One of these studies
showed results for men and women separately. Despite
the relatively small number of studies, bullying was
judged to be related to worsening depressive symptoms
with an evidence grade of 3 as the findings were very
consistent and the odds ratios were high (the weighted
odds ratio being 2.82; 95 % CI 2.21 to 3.59).
Figure 2 shows forest plots for the three factors with
evidence grade 3 - decision latitude (a), job strain (b)
and bullying (c). For high decision latitude, 17/18 point
estimates were lower than 1.0 (separate point estimates
for men and women in five studies). The upper 95 %
confidence limit was above 1.0 in five studies. For job
strain, 14/15 point estimates were above 1.0. Three
lower confidence limits reached below 1.0. The forest
plots were based upon studies from which odds ratios
could be extracted or calculated. It should be pointed
out, however, that the total evidence grading also
included a few additional studies. Bullying, finally, had
four point estimates in the diagram. All of those were
higher than 2.0 and all the lower confidence limits were
above 1.0.
The exposures with a limited level of evidence were
psychological demands (quantitative psychological
demands defined according to the widely used Job
Content Questionnaire or alternative psychometrically
tested versions), the combination of low psychological
demands and low decision latitude (“passive work”),
“pressing work”(mainly important life events at work),
effort reward imbalance, low social support (from
management and coworkers), poor social climate, poor
social capital, low procedural and relational justice,
conflicts with superiors and colleagues, poor skill
discretion, job insecurity and long working weeks (the
latter for women only).
The exposures with very limited (= level 1) evidence
were other kinds of demands (not quantitative) including
emotional demands, distributive justice, threats, vio-
lence, irregular working hours, long working hours
(men), physically demanding work, exposure to pesti-
cides and insecticides, solvents and heavy metals.
Homogeneity tests showed that results were compar-
able for two groups of outcome measures (standardized
interview versus standardized self-report questionnaire),
for men and women, for general population versus spe-
cific occupation cohorts and for white collar versus blue
collar groups.
Discussion
Main findings and recent developments in the field
The aim of the study was to provide systematically
graded evidence for possible associations between work
environment factors and near-future development of de-
pressive symptoms. A total of fifty-nine relevant articles
with high or medium high scientific quality fulfilling our
criteria were found. The results provide evidence for
several work conditions being linked to depressive symp-
toms among the employees in both positive and negative
directions. Scientific evidence of grade three out of four
(in other words moderately strong) was shown for job
strain (high psychological demands and low decision
latitude), low decision latitude and bullying. Further-
more, scientific evidence of grade two was found for
psychological demands, effort reward imbalance, low
support, unfavorable social climate, lack of procedural
and relational justice, conflicts with superiors and col-
leagues, limited skill discretion, job insecurity and long
working week.
An important finding is that there were few prospect-
ive studies with sufficient quality of the relationship be-
tween adverse chemical (pesticides and heavy metals for
instance) and physical (heavy loads, awkward positions,
irradiation, cold and hot temperature) and depressive
symptoms. This field needs more research.
The results should primarily be interpreted in the con-
text of the Western world. We deliberately limited our
inclusion of studies to these countries. The rationale be-
hind this was that we wanted to secure similar cultural
framework around work in order to simplify our inter-
pretation of the findings.
The review differs from earlier studies in the field due
to its comprehensive and thorough approach. Our re-
view is based on an extremely thorough literature search
as well as on a well-described and systematic evaluation
of a large number of publications. Thus, it includes all
kinds of environmental exposures, physical as well as
psychosocial and that it is based upon a systematic ap-
proach. This is the first review in which the examination
of evidence follows (a slight modification of ) GRADE
principles. Furthermore it is including more recently
published research than previous reviews.
Our review shows that the psychosocial research field
has made progress since the reviews published in 2008
and 2010. Bonde [1] and Netterström et al. [2] made
critical remarks about possible publication bias, lack of
more “objective”measures of exposure and outcome and
also about lack of time perspectives which would be
needed for the understanding of time of exposure needed
for the development of depression. With regard to object-
ive measures, there are more published studies than
previously with standardized interview based assessment of
clinical depression. Comparison of the plots corresponding
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 7 of 14
Fig. 2 Association between work environment factors and development of depressive symptoms when evidence was judged as moderate
(grade 3), a. Decision latitude, The graph is based on data from the least adjusted model in studies expressing the strength of the association
either as odds ratios or as correlations (the latter have been transformed into odds ratios). Ylipaavalniemi et al.: “Healthy at baseline”refers to a
doctor diagnosis/non-diagnosis of depression. Please note that data from six more studies (Dagher et al. 2011, Magnusson Hansson et al. 2009,
Paterniti et al. 2002, Plaisier et al. 2007, Rugulies et al. 2006 and Wieclaw et al. 2008) are included in the evidence-rated result; however data from
these studies could not be illustrated in the graph due to the data format. Data have been re-calculated to show the association between high
level of control and development of depressive symptoms (data in these studies are presented as association between low level of control and
depressive symptoms). b. Job strain, The graph is based on data from the least adjusted model in studies expressing the strength of the
association either as odds ratios or as correlations (the latter have been transformed into odds ratios). Please note that data from three more
studies (Ibrahim et al. 2009, Wieclaw et al. 2008 and Mantyniemi et al. 2012) are included in the evidence-rated result; however data from these
studies could not be illustrated in the graph due to the data format. c. Bullying, The graph is based on data from the least adjusted model in
studies expressing the strength of the association either as odds ratios or as correlations (the latter have been transformed into odds ratios)
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 8 of 14
to results from studies based upon standardized interviews
did not differ from those from studies based upon inter-
nationally accepted depression questionnaires. Objective
exposures are still uncommon, however. One interesting
approach was used by Virtanen et al. [13] who could show
that hospital staff who experienced excess occupancy of
hospital beds had increased risk of developing sick leave be-
cause of depression in a dose-response manner, with excess
occupancy exceeding 10 % being associated with an odds
ratioofsickleavefordepressionof1.94(1.14-3.28).
During later years research designs on the association
between work environment factors and depressive feel-
ings have become increasingly sophisticated. For in-
stance, Shields [14], Stansfeld et al. [15], De Lange et al.
[16] and Wang et al. [17] have examined possible effects
of exposure to job strain at least twice, or even three
times in the follow-up survey waves. Their findings indi-
cate that accumulated or increasing job strain has a
stronger adverse statistical effect on risk of experiencing
increased ratings of depressive symptoms during follow-
up than decreasing job strain. As might be expected,
these studies show that two or more assessments of the
job situation provide more precise information regarding
risk than only one measurement. Therefore stronger evi-
dence regarding the influence of working conditions on
mental health may be expected in future research with a
growing body of studies with such methodology.
The literature search included articles published up to
June 2013. For practical reasons it has not been possible
to do a full review of the articles published after that date.
However, a more informal search in the scientific litera-
ture (PubMed and PsycInfo until February 2015) showed
that a few more recent prospective studies of work envir-
onment and development of depressive feelings relevant
to the present review have been published. None of those
would have changed our conclusions. Four of them sup-
port the use of standardized measures of job strain or high
psychological demands and low decision latitude in pre-
dicting either depressive symptoms or major depressive
disorder [18–21] and one of them supports the use of ef-
fort reward imbalance (or low reward) in the prediction of
disability pension due to depression [21].
Gender
Our results showed that similar work conditions were
related to a similar increase in depressive symptoms
among men and women. However, although there is no
gender difference in excess risk associated with adverse
work conditions, studies have shown that women actu-
ally have higher levels of job strain than men [22]. This
may be one reason for women’s higher prevalence of de-
pressive symptoms. Other studies indicate that work
conditions can affect men and women differently in rela-
tion to development of major depressive disorder
(MDD). For example, a Canadian study showed that
men had elevated risk of MDD only if they were exposed
to extremely high level of job strain while women had
elevated risk of MDD even when exposed to moderate
job strain [23]. The study points to the need of context-
ualizing findings about mental health and it may also
illustrate that gender could be more relevant for the
relationship between working conditions and major
depressive disorder than for the relationship between
working conditions and depressive symptoms.
Technical issues
In this review we have not reviewed evidence whether
there is interaction or not between high psychological
demands and low decision latitude (as discussed for in-
stance in Karasek and Theorell [24]). We have regarded
the combination simply as a theoretical construction
and evaluated its possible success or lack of success as a
predictor of development of depressive symptoms.
In forest plots, we chose to use data from the least ad-
justed model from each study. The main rationale for this
was that these models were more comparable between
studies than other models, since the more adjusted ones
were adjusted to widely different potential confounders.
The most powerful prognostic factor for incident depres-
sive symptoms was manifest symptoms at the study base-
line; a parameter that had to be assessed in each of the
included studies. Generally, adjusting for other con-
founders had very little effect. For transparency, we have
listed data in both least and most adjusted models, see ex-
tensive tables at http://www.sbu.se/upload/Publikationer/
Content0/1/223E/Inclusion%20criteria_occupational%20
exposure_depression_burnout.pdf.
An important point is that if a study presented data in
several statistical models, all data from all models were in-
cluded in the expert group assessment of scientific evidence
for all of the results presented in this systematic review.
Assessments of odds ratios may be somewhat unreli-
able due to differences in methodology across studies
and also due to the fact that summary odds ratios could
not be calculated for some of the occupational expo-
sures. It should however be pointed out that for most of
the studied exposures the observed risks were of moder-
ate size.
The operationalization of job strain differed between
the studies. The majority of the published studies used
the median split definition (above median for the psy-
chological demands score and below median for the de-
cision latitude score). When exposure to job strain is
defined in this way and the remaining participants in the
study are defined as unexposed there is relatively little
contrast between unexposed and exposed subjects. This
may lead to underestimation of the true association.
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 9 of 14
As recommended in the epidemiological literature we
produced funnel plots to investigate possible publication
bias. When there is pronounced publication bias, studies
reporting “confirming”odds ratios with wide confidence
intervals are more common than studies reporting
“rejecting”odds ratios with wide confidence intervals.
Such an analysis cannot replace a real analysis of publi-
cation bias –the best analysis would be to contact re-
searchers asking for unpublished studies. But according
to our exploration of the material, there was no such
evidence of publication bias.
Limitations
Most studies were based upon self-reports of both work-
ing conditions and depressive symptoms. Few of the
studies were based upon in situ investigation of the work
environment and standardized clinical interviews of em-
ployees. Such interviews are more objective and may
more often identify depression than standardized self-
rating questionnaires which primarily have screening or
follow-up indications. The risk of inflated associations
may arise, when there are subjective descriptions both of
explanatory and dependent factors [25]. This is particu-
larly the case in cross-sectional studies while in pro-
spective studies this risk is less pronounced. The risk of
inflated association decreases as adjustments are per-
formed for initial symptoms of mental disease and when
the assessments of working conditions and mental
symptoms are standardized. Accordingly, in this study
we only included prospective studies (and comparable
case-control studies) with data on initial symptoms and
standardized measures of exposure and outcome.
Due to the fact that the researchers in the included
studies had chosen a wide range of different statistical
measures to express associations between occupational
exposure and depressive symptoms, it was not possible
to conduct formal mathematical homogeneity analyses
including the entire data material. Instead, the expert
group conducted a combination of mathematical and
narrative sub-group analyses to explore whether the re-
sults were homogenous when subgroups of studies were
compared. Accordingly results were compared for men
versus women, for self-reported versus clinically rated
depression/depressive symptoms, for general population
studies versus specific occupational cohorts and for
high/medium high quality studies. Inspection of the con-
fidence interval distributions, as well as sub-populations'
summary odds ratios and their confidence intervals
showed homogenous results across those dichotomies.
A limitation of our review could be that we may have
underestimated the importance of work environment
factors that have not been subjected to many empirical
studies. There were examples of exposure factors that
were examined in many studies but did not achieve level
3 in the grading system such as psychological demands
- which only yielded evidence level 2. This illustrates the
need for more detailed studies of different aspects of
demands, such as emotional demands. In addition, ef-
fort reward imbalance was consistently associated with
worsening depressive symptoms in three studies of
medium high quality and was classified as second grade
evidence. The summarized odds ratio was 1.78 which is
comparable to the corresponding odds ratio for job
strain which was 1.74. However, job strain had been
examined in 14 studies and therefore achieved third
grade evidence.
Another limitation is that we have not included out-
side work factors that may be of importance. As pointed
out for instance by Wang and Schmitz [26] job strain
may interact with psychosocial factors outside of the
workplace in relation to the risk of major depression,
and such interactions may in addition differ between
men and women.
Societal relevance
Despite the often moderate sizes of our findings, some
of the associations are of considerable societal import-
ance. An illustration of this is that if a work environ-
ment factor has a prevalence of 25 % and is associated
with a relative risk of 1.8, the resulting population at-
tributable risk is 11 %. Accordingly, when an exposure
is common (as is the case with job strain, low level of
control and effort reward imbalance with the oper-
ational definitions that have been used) even a moder-
ately elevated risk associated with it becomes important
in a societal context.
The work environment factors for which we found
scientific evidence for an association to depressive
symptom development are possible to influence by
means of work organization changes. For instance, it
has been shown that decision latitude for employees
can be improved by analysis of the work organization
with subsequent goal-directed organization interven-
tion [27, 28] or by a year-long education of managers
about psychosocial factors [29]. A review of natural ex-
periments designed to reduce psychosocial risks in the
work environment for bus drivers showed that such in-
terventions may result in reduced biological stress in
that group [30]. The present resultssuggestthatinas-
sessment and treatment plans of depression, work en-
vironment should be taken into account.
Conclusions
There is substantial empirical evidence that employees,
both men and women, who report lack of decision lati-
tude, job strain and bullying, will experience increasing
depressive symptoms over time.
Theorell et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:738 Page 10 of 14
Many of the work environmental factors can be favor-
ably influenced by effective organizational interventions.
An important step in this research field would be the
launching of good evaluations of psychosocial interven-
tions. For some kinds of working conditions that are de-
veloping in the modern working world, new research on
depressive symptoms will be needed.
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Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’contributions
TT was chairman of the expert committee and has conceptualized and
written large parts of the manuscript. GA, LTB, TG, AH, CH (1), IM and IS have
all contributed substantially to the expert panel work and have made
important comments to the manuscript. CH (2) has performed most of the
statistical work and contributed both to the conceptualizing and the writing
of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Authors’information
The authors deliberately represent a diversity of academic fields, namely
psychiatry (LTB, IS, IM), work psychology (GA), occupational epidemiology
(AH, CH), stress research (TT) and general practice (TG).
Acknowledgements
This study has been funded by the Swedish Council of Health Technology
Assessment. The Swedish Government has had no role in the work, neither
in the scientific work itself nor in the writing of the article. The review has
been funded by the Swedish Council of Health Technology Assessment.
Author details
1
Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm,
Sweden.
2
Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE- 171 77
Stockholm, Sweden.
3
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine,
Department of social medicine, Umeå University Hospital, SE-901 85 Umeå,
Sweden.
4
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91
Stockholm, Sweden.
5
Division of Psychiatry, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund,
Sweden.
6
South Health Care Centre, SE-761 46 Norrtälje, Sweden.
7
Division of
Occupational medicine, Institute for Environmental Medicine, Karolinska
Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
8
Division of Psychiatry, Linköping
University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
9
Department of Psychiatry and
Neurochemistry, Göteborg University, SE-411 24 Stockholm, Sweden.
10
Swedish Council of Health Technology Assessment, SE-103 59 Stockholm,
Sweden.
Received: 7 March 2015 Accepted: 19 June 2015
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