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Relationship between self-reported mental stressors at the workplace and salivary cortisol

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International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the association between work stress measures and salivary cortisol excretion in working and weekend days.

Methods

In a sample of 68 healthy young call-centre operators dimensions of job stress from the demand-control model were related to repeated measures of salivary cortisol on seven samples (at awakening, +30 min, +60 min, + 3h, +6 h, +9 h, and +12 h after awakening) at two working days and a weekend day.

Results

The cortisol excretion on work days was higher than during weekend day with gender-specific differences as women only showed higher significant values for area under the curve (AUCG) and Diurnal cycle (χ2 (2) = 8.10, P < 0.05; χ2 (2) = 15.75, P < 0.05, respectively). There were no associations between job demand, job control and cortisol excretion, while the sociodemographic characteristics of the call-centre operators showed linear relation with the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretory activity.

Conclusions

The hypothalamic-pituitary adrenocortical axis activation was higher in working day than in weekend day. This activation measured by salivary cortisol was not related to self-reported mental stressors assessed with job strain model. The availability of more specific psychometric scales would be useful to explore the relationship between salivary cortisol levels and measures of mental stress at workplace.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Traumatologia, Ortopedia e Medicina del Lavoro, Università di Torino, Via Zuretti 29, 10126, Torino, Italy

    Giovanni Maina & Antonio Palmas

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze di Medicina Pubblica Unità Clinico Operativa di Medicina del Lavoro, Università di Trieste, Via della Pietà 19, 34129, Trieste, Italy

    Francesca Larese Filon

Authors
  1. Giovanni Maina
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  2. Antonio Palmas
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  3. Francesca Larese Filon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giovanni Maina.

Appendix

Appendix

Formulas for the calculation of AUC variables

  • For the calculation of AUCG; (Pruessner et al. 2003a)

    $$ {\text{AUC}}_{{\text{G}}} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n - 1} {\frac{{m_{{(i + 1)}} + m_{i} }} {2}} }$$

  • For the calculation of AUCI; Pruessner et al. (2003a)

    $$ {\text {AUC}}_ {\rm I} = {\left( {{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n - 1} {\frac{{m_{{(i + 1)}} + m_{i} }} {2}} }} \right)} - {\left( {n - 1} \right)} \cdot m_{1} $$

  • For the calculation of MnInc; Wust et al. (2000b)

    $$ {\text{MnInc}} = ({\text{B}} + {\text{C}})/2 - {\text{A}}$$

  • For the calculation of AUCG-work, see AUCG formula

  • For the calculation of Diurnal cycle, see AUCG formula

Work stress measures

  • High strain: job control ≤ median job control and job demand > median

  • Active strain: job control ≤ median job control and job demand ≤ median

  • Passive strain: job control > median job control and job demand > median

  • Low strain: job control > median job control and job demand ≤ median

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Maina, G., Palmas, A. & Filon, F.L. Relationship between self-reported mental stressors at the workplace and salivary cortisol. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 81, 391–400 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-007-0224-x

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