# Common mental disorders among health workers: prevalence, co occurrence, and associated factors

## TL;DR

This study finds that about a third of primary health care workers in Brazil experience common mental disorders, with symptoms like nervousness and fatigue being most common.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the prevalence and symptom clustering of common mental disorders among primary health care workers in specific Brazilian cities.

## Key findings

- The prevalence of common mental disorders among health workers was 36.4%.
- Feeling nervous, tired, and having poor sleep were the most reported symptoms.
- Lower education increased risk, while living with a partner decreased it.

## Abstract

Common mental disorders are characterized as a set of symptoms that cause
significant functional disability.

To assess the prevalence and clustering of the main symptoms of common mental
disorders and the association between sociodemographic/occupational
variables and common mental disorders among primary health care workers in
the Brazilian cities of Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, and São
Geraldo da Piedade, Minas Gerais.

This cross-sectional survey is part of the Longitudinal Study of Physical
Activity and Health of Workers in the Health Sector. The Self-Reporting
Questionnaire was used to assess common mental disorders. Descriptive
statistics, the chi-square test, cluster analysis, and binary logistic
regression were performed in IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0.

A total of 107 primary health care workers from Vitória da Conquista
(n = 92) and São Geraldo da Piedade (n = 15) participated. The
prevalence of common mental disorders was 36.4%, with the most commonly
reported symptoms being: feeling nervous, tense, or worried (51.4%); easily
fatigued (46.7%); poor sleep (43.9%); frequent headaches (36.4%); and recent
feelings of sadness (36.4%). Approximately one-third of the workers had
common mental disorders, with 5 simultaneous symptoms being the most
prevalent combination. Workers with lower education and those who lived with
a partner had a higher and lower risk of common mental disorders,
respectively.

Identifying the prevalence and the main symptoms associated with common
mental disorders can facilitate the development and implementation of more
targeted and effective care actions for this population.