Emotional disorders in the working population: an emerging problem in occupational health?

BACKGROUND: TO know the prevalence of emotional disorders in a working popu lation. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Workers in four companies: construction (A), automobil e components (B), electrical and electronic systems (c) and management serv ices (D). The design of the study was cross-sectional with the GHQ-28 quest ionnaire. RESULTS: The prevalence fluctuated between 8,4% (A) and 24,0% (D). Sex, age , educational level and occupation showed significance differences in some companies, CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest an important prevalence of emotional disor ders that likely increase as there will be more firms of services.