Investigation on occupational stress and thyroid abnormalities of teachers in primary and middle school

  Objective  To understand the occupational stress and thyroid abnormalities of teachers in primary and secondary school s in a city located in the Pearl River Delta, so as to improve the health level of teachers.

  Methods  Totally 618 teachers in primary and secondary school who underwent health examination in a third-class hospital in the Pearl River Delta from January to December 2019 were studied. Their basic information, occupational stress were collected, their serum thyroid function were measured and thyroid was examined by color Doppler ultrasound. The binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors of the goiter.

  Results  These teachers had been engaged in education for 5 to 30 years with average(9.83 ±2.09) years. The incidence of occupational stress was 26.21% (162/618), including 102 mild cases(62.96%), 37 moderate cases(22.84%) and 23 severe cases(14.20%). The total ORQ score of these teachers(167.51 ±22.36) was higher than the reported domestic norm(162.89 ±27.04) and the total score of PRQ(124.16 ±16.08) was lower than the reported domestic norm(128.23 ±17.73), the difference was significant (P < 0.01). The teachers with moderate and severe occupational stress had higher level of thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH) and lower level of FT4, compared with teachers without occupational stress or with mild occupational stress(P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that risk factors of the goiter among these teachers were the decrease of TSH level, the increase of FT3 and FT4 levels, the longer time of engagement, and occupational stress(P < 0.05).

  Conclusions  Occupational stress may increase the risk of abnormality of thyroid size and function of these teachers, the regular physical examination should be taken in order to improve their health level.