La importancia de los riesgos psicosociales en la vigilancia de la salud: determinación de la necesidad de incluirlos en el cuadro de enfermedades profesionales

Abstract

Introducción: el Real Decreto 1299/2006 establece el cuadro de enfermedades profesionales, sin que se encuentren incluidas las enfermedades derivadas de los factores psicosociales en el trabajo. No obstante, los riesgos psicosociales podrían tener un efecto perjudicial sobre la salud física, psicológica y social de los trabajadores. Objetivos: determinar la importancia de los riesgos psicosociales en la vigilancia de la salud y de su necesidad de incluirlos en el cuadro de enfermedades profesionales, describiendo el impacto sobre la salud física, la salud mental y el bienestar emocional y social de los trabajadores. Conclusiones: estos hallazgos indican que los factores psicosociales en el trabajo se asocian con enfermedades que pueden deteriorar gravemente el bienestar de los trabajadores, por lo que es necesario prestar atención a dichos riesgos en la labor preventiva así como proponer su inclusión en el cuadro de enfermedades profesionales.

Introduction: Royal Decree 1299/2006 establishes the list of occupational diseases, without including diseases derived from psychosocial factors at work. However, psychosocial risks could have a detrimental effect on the physical, psychological and social health of workers. Objectives: to determine the importance of psychosocial risks in health surveillance and the need to include them in the list of occupational diseases, describing the impact on workers' physical health, mental health and emotional and social well-being. Methodology: a systematic review of the literature was carried out by means of a literature search in electronic databases (PubMed, ProQuest Central, Academic Search Premier and Web of Science) in the period 2011-2021. The selected studies were analysed for their level of evidence using the SIGN scale and for their quality using the STROBE scale. Results: after the literature search, 1748 studies were found, of which 15 were selected, all of them crosssectional descriptive studies (level of evidence 2+), with adequate quality according to the STROBE scale. The findings indicate that psychosocial factors at work, such as effort-reward imbalance, stress, quantitative, emotional and cognitive demands, violence at work and others have detrimental effects on physical health, with musculoskeletal problems, impaired lipid and glucose metabolism, as well as mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety. Emotional and social health can also be negatively affected by these factors. Conclusions: These findings indicate that psychosocial factors at work are associated with diseases that can seriously impair the well-being of workers, so it is necessary to pay attention to these risks in preventive work and to propose their inclusion in the list of occupational diseases.