[Association between occupational stress and nicotine dependence in in health workers]

Stress is the result of the imbalance between the demands and pressures that the individual faces. Stress tests the individual's ability to cope with her activity, and this is a health problem for the worker.

To explore the association between occupational stress and nicotine dependence in healthcare workers from the Family Medicine Unit No. 92 of the IMSS.

Cross-sectional study that included 180 active smoking workers, occupational stress was evaluated with the Psychosomatic Problems for Occupational Stress questionnaire adapted by IMSS and nicotine dependence with the Fagerström questionnaire. Student's t tests and Fisher's Exact test were used. The statistical analysis was performed with the Stata 15 program.

The prevalence of occupational stress was 72.2% (42.8% mild, 20.6% moderate and 8.9% severe). Women presented greater work stress compared to men (76.1% vs. 56.0%; p = 0.008). Nicotine dependence was 49.4% mild, 35.6% moderate and 15.0% severe, the average of the Fagerström test was higher in women compared to men (3.75 vs. 2.83; p = 0.025), in addition an association was found between the work stress and nicotine dependence (p = 0.011).

72% of the workers presented work stress, in the same way the association between work stress and nicotine dependence was found. Identifying the main causes of work stress, together with the support of smoking cessation programs, would help in the well-being of health personnel in FMUs.