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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1563742
This article is part of the Research Topic World Mental Health Day: Mental Health in the Workplace View all 11 articles
Monitoring of Mental Health in Occupational Populations: A Study on the Role and Application of HDL-related Inflammatory Index
Provisionally accepted- 1 Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 2 China Railway Chengdu Bureau Group Co., Ltd. Chengdu Disease Prevention and Control Center, Chengdu, China
Background: Mental disorders in occupational populations pose significant health and economic burdens, but there exists a lack of practical and objective biomarkers for occupational mental health monitoring. Our study aims to explore the correlation between high - density lipoprotein- related inflammatory markers and negative psychological symptoms in occupational populations. We also seek to evaluate the potential application effectiveness of these indicators as biomarkers for identifying the impact of mental health on occupational populations.METHODS: Our study adopted a cross-sectional design with a combination of questionnaires and biochemical index tests for 1920 eligible occupational populations. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 was used to measure participants' levels of anxiety, depression, and stress. Collect individual and occupational characteristics of survey respondents through self-administered questionnaires. Blood samples are also collected to measure HDL-C levels and peripheral blood cell counts. We employed statistical analyses including correlation analysis, Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis, and univariate and multivariate regression.RESULTS: The final sample size included in the analysis was 1434. The results showed that stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with all four HDL-related inflammatory indices (P < 0.05). Especially for MHR, compared to those without symptoms, individuals experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression had an OR of 2.75 (95% CI: 1.90, 3.99), 3.27 (95% CI: 2.25, 4.78), and 3.02 (95% CI: 2.08, 4.40) for abnormally high levels, respectively. In addition, subgroup analyses showed that lower monthly incomes, longer working hours and frequent night shifts might be promoting factors for elevated HDL-related inflammatory levels. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis further demonstrated that PHR and MHR exhibit good predictive ability for all three psychological symptoms, with AUC values exceeding 0.6. Notably, for individuals with over 30 years of work experience, the predictive performance AUC is even higher, reaching above 0.7.CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that PHR and MHR are expected to be potential biomarkers for identifying health problems caused by negative psychological symptoms in occupational groups. Preventive measures should be implemented for high-risk groups, including those with low income, long working hours, and frequent night shifts, to mitigate potential health impacts.
Keywords: Occupational Monitor, HDL, inflammatory index, stress, Depression, Anxiety
Received: 20 Jan 2025; Accepted: 17 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ma, Ping Cuo, Li, Wang, Wang and Yajia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lan Yajia, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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