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P-470 Association between occupational stress and depressive symptoms among healthcare workers in north-eastern Brazil: a pre-pandemic scenario

Introduction Healthcare workers (HCW) have been reported to be at high risk for several mental health problems due to occupational stress. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 raised new concerns about the mental health of HCW workers, which may be affected by new demands and the organization of work. Studies comparing pre-and post-pandemic work environments in health settings are necessary to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on HCWs mental health. Objectives We aimed to investigate the association between occupation stress and depressive symptoms among HCW in a city in northeastern Brazil at the end of 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods This is a cross-sectional study with a representative sample of 355 HCW from a city in northeastern Brazil. Occupational stress, based on the demand-control model, was measured by the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), and depressive symptoms were evaluated by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Poisson regressions were used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) and to analyse associations of interest. Results The prevalence of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 > 9) was 22.4%. Occupational stress was strongly associated with the outcome. In the crude analyses, the prevalence of depression symptoms among workers eposed to high job strain was 3.54 (95% CI: 1.60-6.90) times that of those with low strain. After adjustment for sex, age and income, the prevalence ratio remained highly significant (PR=3.34;95%CI: 1.80-6.18). Conclusions Occupational stress was a strong risk factor for depressive symptoms in a pre-pandemic scenario. The prevalence of depressive symptoms is expected to increase during the pandemic. Assessing occupational stress and depression during follow-up over the next few years may elucidate the impact of the pandemic on work processes and on HCWs mental health.