Anxiety and depression symptoms among gas and oil industry workers

Background: Oil and gas industry workers appear to suffer from anxiety and depression more frequently than the general population. Aims: To establish the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among offshore workers working for an oil and gas company and to identify the main stressors that lead to symptoms of these disorders. Methods: One thousand seven hundred and forty- seven workers employed in an offshore oil and gas company in the Middle East completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health (PHQ-9) questionnaires. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were estimated from these surveys. Results: Anxiety and depression symptoms were reported by nearly 15% of workers surveyed. Ordered logistic regression analyses showed that age, rotation length, years of service and local origin (versus expatriate) were signifcant predictors for symptoms of anxiety. With adjustment for age, older local workers had a lower risk of anxiety symptoms than expatriates. Conclusions: Younger workers, workers with longer rotations and those with fewer years of service were more likely to report anxiety symptoms. In addition, older local workers and expatriates had a lower prevalence of anxiety symptoms than younger local workers. Future recommendations should address improvements in psychological health of offshore workers in the gas and oil industrie