London – Working long hours may cause people to experience major depressive episodes, according to research published online in the journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers analyzed data from a study that surveyed about 2,000 people who were monitored for major depressive episodes. They found the risk of a major depressive episode was 2.43 times higher for individuals who worked 11 or more hours per day, compared with employees working seven to eight hours per day.
Adjustments were made for socio-demographic factors, along with chronic physical diseases, cigarette and alcohol consumption, job strain, and work-related social support, which had little effect on the association between depression and overtime work, researchers stated.
