Differences in occupational stress by smoking intensity and gender in cross-sectional study of 59 355 Japanese employees using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ): the Niigata Wellness Study

• Published in: BMJ open 2022-04, Vol.12 (4), p.e055577-e055577
• Main Authors: Tashiro, Shigemi, Kato, Kiminori, Kitazawa, Masaru, Fujihara, Kazuya, Kodama, Satoru, Tashiro, Minoru, Matsuda, Kazuhiro, Otsuka, Masato, Sato, Koji, Sone, Hirohito
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Cigarettes; Cross-Sectional Studies; Employees; Female; Gender; Humans; Japan - epidemiology; Male; Manufacturing industry; Mental health; occupational & industrial medicine; Occupational and Environmental Medicine; Occupational health; Occupational stress; Occupational Stress - epidemiology; Personal health; preventive medicine; Public health; Questionnaires; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking cessation; Social support; Stress; Stress, Psychological; Surveys and Questionnaires; Womens health; Work environment
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055577

ObjectivesIt has been hypothesised that smoking intensity may be related to occupational stress. This study aimed to investigate whether stress, including problems with superiors or co-workers, is a driver of smoking.DesignCross-sectional study.Setting and participants59 355 employees (34 865 men and 24 490 women) across multiple occupations who completed a self-reported questionnaire-based occupational stress survey between April 2016 and March 2017 in Niigata Prefecture.Main outcome measuresStress scores for the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire subscales summed up after assigning high points for high stress and converted to Z-scores based on the mean of all participants. Heavy smokers (HS) smoked ≥15 cigarettes/day and light smokers (LS) smoked