الفهرس 
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Abstract
Occupational stress has been of great concern to the management,
employees, and other stakeholders of organizations .Occupational stress
is defined as the perception of a discrepancy between environmental
demands (stressors) and individual capacities to fulfill these demands. Job
stress is a major occupational health problem in many sectors of
industries and the electronics industry workers are one of several
occupational groups who report disproportionately high levels of job
stress. Stress might lead to low motivation and morale, decrease in
performance, high turnover, sick leave, accidents, low job satisfaction,
low quality products and services alteration in behavior or health.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the
prevalence of the job stress among LG Electronics Company workers in
Ismailia city and to describe dimensions of job stress (job demand, job
control and social support) among them. Furthermore, it explored the
relationships between dimensions of job stress and high -sensitivity Creactive
protein concentrations as indicator of chronic inflammation.
The current study was carried out in LG Electronics Company in
Ismailia city. Two hundred and sixty four workers were included. All of
them were males. A structured interview questionnaire measuring the
sociodemographic characteristics, work characteristics, assessment of the
job stress using Job Content Questionnaire was used. C - reactive protein
(CRP) concentration was measured as an indicator of chronic
inflammation.
The mean age of the studied workers was 29.86 5.29 years, and 69.7
% of them were married. Moreover, majority of workers (83 %) had
completed secondary education. Regarding smoking status, eighty one
participants (30.7 %) were smokers. All of them were cigarettes smokers.
The mean duration of smoking among smokers was 10.40 4.47 years.
The mean number of cigarettes per day was 9.74 3.11 cigarettes. All
smokers have been smoking twenty pack year or less and can be
classified as light smokers
Their work history revealed that the mean duration of employment was
7.14 4.36 years. Furthermore, the majority of the workers (72.7%)
worked 40 hours per week. The mean working hours was of was 40.59
1.1hours per week. Regarding nature of work, 60.6% of workers were
assemblers, 15.2% were storage workers, 14.8% were administration
employees, while 9.5% were inspectors. The highest percentage of
workers (84.1%) was exposed to noise. Moreover, 45.1% of workers had
a history of exposure to extreme heat while, 21.6% of workers had a
history of exposure to radiation. As well as 63.3% of workers had a
history of exposure to metals fumes while 20.8% of workers had a history
of exposure to vapors. On other hand, 51.5% of workers had a history of
exposure to chemicals, and 25% of workers had a history of exposure to
dust. While, there was negative exposure history to vibration, extreme
cold, or biological hazards.
Low job control was reported by 130 workers (49.2%), high job
demand was perceived by 136 workers (51.5%), and low social support
was reported by 128 (48.5%) workers. The high strain category included
89 workers (33.7%). The low strain category included 87 workers (33%).
The passive job strain category included 41 workers (15.5%). In addition
the active job strain category included 47 workers (17.8%). With The
prevalence of high job strain in Electronics Company workers was
33.7%.
The findings of the current study showed that electronics workers in
high strain group were significantly younger in age (28.74 4.87years)
compared to those in non high strain group (30.43 5.42 years). With
respect to marital status, 73% of high strain workers were married while
68% of non high strain workers were married, with no statistically
significant difference. Secondary education represented the main
educational level in both groups. Regarding smoking status, 33.7% of the
workers in high strain group were smokers compared to 29.1% of the
workers in non high strain group, with statistically insignificant
difference.
The results of the current study indicated that workers in high strain
group had significantly shorter duration of employment (5.94 2.43
years) as compared to those in non high strain group (7.75 4.96 years).
The mean weekly worked hours among workers in high strain group
(40.60 0.87 hours) was higher than the mean among workers in non high
strain group (40.58 1.21 hours) with statistically insignificant difference.
Furthermore, all workers in the high job strain group were assemblers,
while the non high job strain group included 71 assemblers (40.6%), 25
inspectors (14.3%), 40 storage workers (22.9%), and 39 administration
employees (22.3%).
Moreover, it was found that the low job strain group consisted of 30
assemblers (34.5%), 40 storage workers (46%), and 17 administration
employees (19.5%). While all workers in the passive job strain group
were assemblers. On the other hand, workers in the active strain group
categorized to 25 inspectors (53.2%) and 22 administration employees
(46.8%). There were a statistically significant association between high
job strain and different hazards such as noise, metals, fumes, chemicals,
and vapours. Moreover, there was statistically significant association
between social support and high job stress with 65% of high strain
workers got low social support from others.
High -sensitivity C-reactive protein levels in all subjects was
1.29 0.88 mg/dl. Moreover, high -sensitivity C-reactive protein
concentrations were highest among assemblers (median =1.1 mg/dl),
followed by administration employees (median =0.95 mg/dl), then
storage workers (median =0.85 mg/dl) and inspectors (median =0.75
mg/dl) with statistically significant difference (p = 0.004). Furthermore,
high -sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations were increased in high
strain workers (median =1.10 mg/dl); but this increase was not
statistically significant compared to non high strain workers (median
=0.95 mg/dl). In addition, the mean concentration of hs-CRP in low job
strain category was 1.17 0.80 mg/dl, while in the passive category
was1.54 1.09 mg/dl. On the other hand, in the active job strain the mean
concentration of hs-CRP was 0.99 0.58 mg/dl, with statistically
significant difference.
In addition, it was noticed that low job control group had higher hs
CRP concentrations (median =1.11 mg/dl) than high job control group