Objectives This study aimed to estimate the annual burden of cardiovascular diseases and depression attributable to psychosocial work exposures in 28 EU countries (EU28) in 2015.

Methods This study was based on up-to-date estimates of the fractions of cardiovascular diseases and depression attributable to five psychosocial work exposures in EU28: job strain, effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity, long working hours, and workplace bullying. The outcomes included: coronary/ischemic heart diseases (CHD), stroke, atrial fibrillation, peripheral artery disease, and depression. Burden indicators were prevalent cases, deaths, Years of Life Lost, Years of Life Lost due to Disability, and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY). Health outcome data were extracted from the Global Health Data Exchange database, provided by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. To take into account differences in population sizes between countries, we calculated the prevalence rate, the mortality rate, and the DALY rate per 100,000 workers for each health outcome attributable to each exposure and tested the differences between countries using the Wald test. Results were plotted on maps.

Results The overall burden of CHD attributable to all studied psychosocial work exposures in EU28 was 181,870 to 415,368 prevalent cases, 3,759 to 8,586 deaths, and 129,280 to 295,259 DALYs in 2015. The overall burden of depression was 1,715,026 to 3,645,262 prevalent cases, 8,471 to 18,005 deaths, and 651,665 to 1,385,104 DALYs. Differences between countries for DALY rates per 100,000 workers were significant for all exposures and health outcomes. The highest burdens in DALY rate corresponded to depression attributable to job strain (680 DALY rate per 100,000 workers in Lithuania, 418 in Hungary) and to depression attributable to workplace bullying (371 in France).

Conclusion Such results are necessary as decision tools for decision-makers and policy makers (governments, employers, trade unions) when defining public health priorities and preventive strategies in European countries regarding work stress prevention.