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Media Services: (240) 276-2130
Date: 10/15/2007
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press Office
Telephone: 240-276-2130
Personal Care and Food Service Employees Have Highest Rates of
Depression Among Workers
Most Adults Battling Depression Have Full-Time
Jobs
Rates of depression among full-time workers are highest in personal care
and service jobs and food preparation and serving occupations, according
to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA).
The report on workers ages 18-64, Depression among Adults
Employed Full-Time, by Occupational Category, said that 10.8
percent of personal care and service workers and 10.3 percent of food
preparation and serving workers experienced one or more major depressive
episodes in the past year. In SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and
Health, the source for this report, a major depressive episode is
defined as a period of two weeks or longer during which there is
depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure and at least four other
symptoms that reflect a change in functioning, such as problems with
sleep, eating, energy, concentration and self-image.
Overall, 7 percent of full-time workers faced depression in the past
year, according to these combined 2004-2006 estimates. While rates of
depression were higher among the unemployed and part-time workers, 52.4
percent of the adults who reported past year depression were employed
full-time. Full-time workers make up more than half of the adult
population.
"Depression exacts a high price from workers and from their
employers, costing the U.S. workplace an estimated $36.6 billion per
year in lost productivity," said SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D.
"Employers, workers and their family members need to know effective
treatments for depression are available. Depression screening, outreach
and enhanced treatment can improve productivity, lower employer costs,
and improve the quality of life for individuals and their families."
Among full-time workers ages 18 to 64, women were more likely than
men to have faced depression. Young adult workers ages 18 to 25 had the
highest rates of depression among all adult age groups. Among those 18
to 25 years old, 8.9 percent reported depression in the past
year, while depression was reported by 7.6 percent of those ages 26-34;
7.2 percent of those ages 35-49; and 5.1 percent of those ages 50-64.
Among young adult workers, those in health care and technical
occupations had the highest rate of past year depression (11.9 percent).
The occupations with the lowest rates of past year depression among
all full-time workers ages 18 to 64 were engineering, architecture and
surveying (4.3 percent); life, physical and social science (4.4
percent); and installation, maintenance and repair (4.4 percent).
Depression among Adults Employed Full-Time, by Occupational
Category is available on the Web at
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k7/depression/occupation.cfm. Copies may be
obtained free of charge by calling SAMHSA’s Health Information Network
at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727). Request inventory number
NSDUH07-1011. For related publications and information, visit
http://www.samhsa.gov/ or the following:
-
National Institutes of Mental Health: Telephone
screening, outreach and care management for depressed workers and
impact on clinical and work productivity outcomes, a randomized controlled
trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, Sept 26, 2007;
298(12): 1401-11
