A large study found that women, particularly white-collar workers, who work long hours are more likely to delay or skip routine dental visits, with depression playing a key role in this relationship.
- Long work hours were inversely related to routine dental visits among women workers, with white-collar workers the most affected.
- Depression mediated 6.95% of the correlation between extended work hours and missed dental checkups in women.
- The study included 40,508 participants and found no correlation between work hours and dental visits in male workers.
- Extended work hours were positively linked to depressive symptoms, which then reduced preventive dental care use.
- Researchers recommend workplace strategies and mental health interventions to support access to preventive dental care for working women.
Working long hours may lead women, specifically white-collar workers, to delay or cancel routine dental visits, according to a large study published on October 1 in the International Journal of Dentistry.
Furthermore, depression had a mediating role in the correlation between working extended hours and routine dental checkups. It is believed to be the first study of its kind to identify the mediating role of psychological factors in this association, the authors wrote.
“These findings emphasize the value of workplace strategies and mental health interventions to support access to preventive dental care, especially among working women,” wrote the authors, led by Yawei Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing.
Not only is it unclear whether there is a relationship between working long hours and receiving routine dental care, but it’s unknown whether depression acts as a possible mediator.
To explore the link between extended work hours and routine dental checkups and to assess the mediating effect of depressive symptoms, a cross-sectional study involving 40,508 people was conducted. An electronic questionnaire was used to collect demographics, psychological factors, frequency of dental visits, and how many hours they worked daily, according to the study.
Logistic regression models were used to determine odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between hours worked and dental visits. To assess the possible role of psychological factors, a mediation analysis was completed.
Long working hours were inversely related to routine dental visits among women workers [OR, 95% CI: 0.83, 0.69 to 0.99], specifically women who work in white-collar professions (0.78, 0.64 to 0.94). However, there was no correlation with male workers (1.05, 0.83 to 1.32), the authors wrote.
Additionally, working extended hours was positively linked to depressive symptoms. Symptoms of depression mediated 6.95% (95% CI: 2.09% to 4.53%) of the correlation in women and 5.92% (95% CI: 1.92% to 18.89%) in female white-collar employees, they wrote.
However, the authors noted several limitations. Since information was derived from self-reported data, it may have introduced recall bias, they wrote.
“Our study suggested that long working hours affect the psychological status and subsequent utilization of routine dental check-ups,” Zhang and colleagues wrote.
