Evaluation of Relationships among Occupational Stress, Alcohol Dependence and Other Factors in Male Personnel in a Japanese Local Fire Fighting Organization

Recent large-scale disasters have made middle-ranked fire defense officers responsible for routine fire fighting activities, and a tendency of alcohol dependence associated with other stressful problems is noted in Japan. We assessed the alcohol dependence tendency with the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) in firefighters. Occupational stress, depression and other factors were evaluated with the brief job stress questionnaire, Center for Epidemiologic Studies depression scale, K10 and a face sheet. Subjects were 294 male personnel in a local fire defense headquarters, and 246 of them (83.4%) answered effectively. Data were analyzed first with univariate analysis between the AUDIT score and other items, and then with multivariate analysis of the AUDIT score as a dependent variable and other items as independent variables. The AUDIT score (mean ± SD) in the 246 respondents classified by age ranges was 7.9 ± 5.4 points (the lowest, 0 points; the highest, 27 points). The multivariate analysis showed significant correlations of the AUDIT score with the workplace environment (P = 0.003) and the rank of work (P = 0.019). The present survey was cross-sectional, and we could not clarify the subjects' past drinking states and applicability of the results to the whole Japan personnel. It is necessary to further investigate the relationship between alcoholism and depression in the present subjects. As a pilot study, we first clarified the state of alcohol dependence in personnel in a Japanese local fire fighting organization, and examined related factors.