Onset of Peptic Ulcer and Its Relation to Work‐Related Factors and Life Events: A Prospective Study

How to counter the ten myths about work addiction?: Three postulates for future research

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Referring to Ten myths about work addiction reviewed by Griffiths, Demetrovics, and Atroszko in the Journal of Behavioral Addiction, three postulates were proposed to apply in future research on work addiction: (a) the clinical psychology perspective, (b) the systems approach, and (c) diversified and adequate methodologies.

METHODS

In a narrative review, using theoretical assumptions and empirical data, postulates were discussed against myths.

RESULTS

The opportunities offered by the perspectives and new insights related to myths were presented.

CONCLUSION

It appears that the three postulates may contribute to theoretical and methodological progress in future research on work addiction.

The association between shift work and depression in hotel workers

Background

Shift work is vital in hotel businesses as these businesses run 24 h daily regardless of holidays to accommodate customers. The number of shift workers in hotel businesses is expected to increase consistently and it is crucial to study the impact of shift work on hotel workers’ mental health. This study, therefore, aims to examine the association between depression and shift work in hotel workers. It especially focuses on investigating whether there is a difference in how closely these two are related depending on shift types.

Methods

A survey was conducted with 768 hotel workers who worked at two first-class hotels in Seoul. Out of 659 respondents total (response rate of 85.8 %), 506 respondents were selected as the final research subjects, excluding 153 respondents whose responses were incomplete. The survey was composed of questionnaires related to general characteristics, work-related characteristics, shift work, shift type, and depression level. The Korean Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale was used to evaluate the subjects’ depression level. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted with depression as a dependent variable and shift type as an independent variable after relevant general and work-related characteristics were adjusted to examine the relationship between shift type and depression.

Results

After adjustment for relevant general and work-related characteristics, hotel workers had a significantly higher likelihood of belonging to the depression group than those with a fixed day shift, across all three shift types: rotating day shift (OR = 2.22, 95 % CI = 1.05–4.61), rotating night shift (OR = 2.63, 95 % CI = 1.11–6.24), and fixed night shift (OR = 3.46, 95 % CI = 1.02–11.74).

Conclusions

The results showed that shift work was significantly related to depression in hotel workers and the risk of depression clearly differed among shift types. In particular, fixed night shift workers were most vulnerable to depression. Rotating day shift workers without night work could also have a higher risk of depression.

[Pitfall in conservative therapy for working patients with brain ischemia]

A 59-year-old employed man was recommended to have surgical treatment for symptomatic left middle cerebral arterial stenosis. He refused surgical treatment for social reasons but was given conservative therapy for the prevention of the recurrence of cerebral infarction. Immediately after he retired, he had severe recurrent cerebral infarction with severe anemia and low blood pressure due to gastroduodenal ulcer bleeding. It was inferred from MRI findings that this recurrent cerebral infarction was related to a hemodynamic mechanism and mental stress due to the gastroduodenal ulcer. The influence of occupational mental stress has been reported to be a risk factor of gastroduodenal ulcer. The occupational situation of a patient should be an important factor in consideration of the prevention of cerebral apoplexy.

No association of coffee consumption with gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, reflux esophagitis, and non-erosive reflux disease: a cross-sectional study of 8,013 healthy subjects in Japan

Probably due to caffeine-induced gastric acid secretion, negative effects of coffee upon various upper-gastrointestinal diseases have been precariously accepted, despite the inadequate epidemiological evidence. Our aim is to evaluate the effect of coffee consumption on four major acid-related diseases: gastric ulcer (GU), duodenal ulcer (DU), reflux esophagitis (RE), and non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) based on the large-scale multivariate analysis. Of the 9,517 healthy adults, GU, DU, and RE were diagnosed by endoscopy, and NERD was diagnosed by the symptoms of heartburn and regurgitation without esophageal erosion. Associations between coffee consumption and the four disorders were evaluated, together with age, gender, body mass index (BMI), Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection status, pepsinogen I/II ratio, smoking, and alcohol. We further performed meta-analysis using the random effects model to redefine the relationship between coffee intake and peptic ulcer disease. The eligible 8,013 study subjects comprised of 5,451 coffee drinkers and 2,562 non-coffee drinkers. By univariate analysis, age, BMI, pepsinogen I/II ratio, smoking, and alcohol showed significant associations with coffee consumption. By multiple logistic regression analysis, positively correlated factors with significance were HP infection, current smoking, BMI, and pepsinogen I/II ratio for GU; HP infection, pepsinogen I/II ratio, and current smoking for DU; HP non-infection, male, BMI, pepsinogen I/II ratio, smoking, age, and alcohol for RE; younger age, smoking, and female for NERD. The meta-analyses could detect any association of coffee consumption with neither GU nor DU. In conclusion, there are no significant relationship between coffee consumption and the four major acid-related upper gastrointestinal disorders.

The effects of shift work on physical and mental health

Occupational engagement is a pre-requisite for continuous income opportunities. Among the changing social circumstances work-related conditions play an increasingly eminent role in psychological and mental well-being. The public discusses the question of a possible association between the demands of modern work life and the increases of psychological, psychosomatic and cardiovascular disorders. Given the socioeconomic implications of psychiatric and psychosomatic suffering in the general population, there is a need to further elucidate the causes of their increasing incidence. From a medical point of view, any organization of work disrupting the phased circadian rhythms for bio-psycho-social processes and functioning of the individual are interesting against the background of clock genes and certain biological functions that are organized in a circadian fashion. The authors review the influence of shift work as a form of systematic desynchronization of inner clock systems on the endocrine, the physical, and the mental level. The significance of the findings in the field is discussed along with future directions of conclusive research.