Relationship between psychosocial factors at work and incidence of perceived health problems in the GERICOTS cohort.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the incidence of health problems and the psychosocial work environment in a French occupational cohort.

Methods: Among the 2062 employees in the North of France who participated in the GERICOTS survey between 1999 and 2004, 1154 subjects who kept the same full-time shift in the same firm during the study period (797 men and 357 women) were included. Job strain was assessed using Karasek's model--the strain profile (high psychological demand and low decision latitude) and the iso-strain profile (strain profile and low social support)--and Siegrist's model, Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) (high effort and low rewards).