The consequences of work-related violence and threats for clinically significant mental health problems are unclear: One study showed associations with hospitalisation for depressive and stress-related disorders, but a different study found no association with use of antidepressants. This null-finding, however, could be due to lack of statistical power.

Re-examining the relation between exposure to work-related threats and violence in a large sample of Danish employees (n = 15527).

Assessing whether employees reporting exposure to work-related threats or violence are more likely to start treatment with psychotropics.

We synthesized three Danish studies with self-reported data on exposure to work-related threats or violence within the past 12 months and linked it with purchases of psychotropic medications through registry-data. After excluding 1750 respondents who had used psychotropic medication previous to 12 months before questionnaire-response, the final study population was 15527 employees. We examined four mutually exclusive outcomes:

1. 1) antidepressants (N06a),

2. 2) anxiolytics (N05b),

3. 3) antidepressants and anxiolytics,

4. 4) hypnotics only (N05c).

Using four separate logistic regressions we adjusted risk estimates for confounding by gender, age, cohabitation, education, and income.

Preliminary analyses show increased risk for treatment with antidepressants (OR = 1.46; 95%CI: 1.15–1.86) and antidepressants combined with anxiolytics (OR = 1.79; 95%CI:1.16–2.76), but not anxiolytics (OR = 1.04; 95%CI: 0.74-1.45) or hypnotics only (OR = 1.08; 95%CI: 0.77–1.50). Final results will be available for the conference.

In this large sample of Danish employees, exposure to threats or violence in the workplace is associated with treatment with antidepressants, and antidepressants combined with anxiolytics, but not anxiolytics or hypnotics only.