Depression and occupational injury: results of a pilot investigation.

Abstract

Even mild clinical depression can cause decreased vigilance, attention span, increased irritability, and insomnia-all well-known precursors to occupational injury. This pilot project explores the relationship between occupational injury and depression. One hundred twenty-one individuals with recent work-related injuries and 140 without work-related injuries completed a self-administered depression screening instrument (PHQ-9). We compared the two groups using bivariate analyses. The impact of depression on injury was examined using logistic regression analysis controlling for employment history, marital status, age, and sex. Overall, injured workers in this study were not more likely to be depressed than a comparison group of uninjured workers. However, injured women had significantly higher depression scores than non-injured women (P = 0.04); no such difference was found for men. These data suggest that depression may serve as a precursor to occupational injury for women.