[Correlation between job burnout and salivary cortisol concentration in employees]

To investigate the correlation between job burnout and salivary cortisol concentration.

In September 2014, a cross-sectional survey was used to perform a questionnaire survey for 237 employees in a solar photovoltaic company. Meanwhile, saliva was collected through chewing with a tube for saliva collection, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure salivary cortisol concentration.

The salivary cortisol concentration showed no significant differences between employees with different ages, working years, educational backgrounds, and shifts(P>0.05). The salivary cortisol concentration was positively correlated with the scores of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and job burnout(r=0.182, 0.229, and 0.222, P<0.05). The employees with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and job burnout had significantly higher salivary cortisol concentrations than those without emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and job burnout(80.22±13.34 μg/L vs 75.86±14.75 μg/L, t=2.029, P<0.05; 80.69±12.99 μg/L vs 75.27±14.89 μg/L, t=2.607, P<0.05; 80.06±12.63 μg/L vs 72.76±16.04 μg/L, t=3.248, P<0.05). The stepwise regression analysis showed that salivary cortisol concentration was mainly influenced by depersonalization.

Job burnout is correlated with salivary cortisol concentration, and can be used as an objective assessment index for job burnout.