title: Gender differences and disabilities of perceived depression in the workplace.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have investigated gender difference and associated disability among workers. Comprehensive investigations concerning the occurrence and consequences of depression in workplace are scarce. The study aims to evaluate how workers perceive depression in workplace, as well as to examine depression-related disabilities by gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional web-based survey of 1000 Brazilian workers recruited from Internet sources. Participants answered an online questionnaire about depressive symptoms and related consequences in the workplace.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Common symptoms attributable to depression were crying, loss of interest, and sadness. Almost one in five (18.9%) participants reported had ever been "labeled" by a health professional as suffering from depression. However, the majority of ever-depressed workers (73.5%) remained working. Performance-related impairments were reported by around 60% of depressed workers who continued working. Over half of them also complained about cognitive symptoms (concentration difficulties, indecisiveness, forgetfulness), with men reporting more cognitive dysfunctions than women. One in three workers had taken off work due to depression (mean 65.7 out-of-role days), with these periods being lengthier for men than women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Some depressive events might have occurred before working age, since the participants have self-reported the diagnosis of health professionals in past timeframe. The representativeness of recruited workers was reliant upon the availability of Internet service.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that identification and management of symptoms of depression should be set as a priority in worker׳s health care. General and gender-related strategies to handle depression in the workplace are recommended.
authors.affiliation: Institute & Department of Psychiatry (LIM-23), University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Rua Dr. Ovídio Pires de Campos 785, 05403-010 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: gnap_inbox@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yuan-Pang
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute & Department of Psychiatry (LIM-23), University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Rua Dr. Ovídio Pires de Campos 785, 05403-010 São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes 1524, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clarice
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gorenstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive symptoms; Depression; Disability; Gender difference; Workplace