[The contribution of work and other social determinants to the onset of psychotropic drug use among workers in Canada].

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to examine the contribution of work and other social determinants to the onset of psychotropic drug use among workers over an 8-year period.

METHODS

The study is based on a secondary analysis of the longitudinal data of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS) of Statistics Canada carried out between 1994-1995 and 2002-2003. A panel of 7,338 people aged 15 to 55 and employed at cycle 1 was selected. To establish the incidence rate, we included those participants identified at cycle 1 as not using psychotropic drugs. Overall, 7,020 people in 1,347 local communities did not use psychotropic drugs at cycle 1 and constituted the group at risk in the study. Discrete time survival multilevel regression models were used.

RESULTS

The onset of psychotropic drug use was estimated at 3.5% over the 8-year period studied. With the exception of the number of hours worked, occupations and other work characteristics measured in the NPHS do not show a significant contribution. Being a woman, age, physical health, smoking and stressful childhood events support an increased risk of psychotropic drug use, whereas certain personality traits decreased the risk of psychotropic drug use.

CONCLUSIONS

The work factors measured in the NPHS seem to play a limited role in the incidence of psychotropic drug use. More research is needed to better capture patterns of workers' psychotropic drug use over time.