Objective  To investigate the depressive symptoms and risk factors among frontline workers in the secondary industry in Tongling City in order to provide a basis for the prevention of psychological problems among occupational populations in Tongling City.

  Methods  By convenience sampling method, 389 frontline workers from 9 enterprises in the secondary industry, namely non-metal mining and dressing industry, rubber and plastic products industry, metal mineral products industry, and textile and garment enterprises, in Tongling City from July to September 2022 were anonymously surveyed with the Monitoring and Intervention Questionnaire for Occupational Health Literacy of Key Populations developed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the risk factors for depressive symptoms among these workers.

  Results  The prevalence of depressive symptoms among 389frontline workers in the secondary industry was 14.40%, while 123 individuals(31.62%) had sleep disturbances.Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that for every 1-year increase in the age of workers, the risk of abnormal depressive symptoms increased by 1.04 times(95%CI: 1.01-1.07); compared with workers with weekly working hours ≤40 h, those with weekly working hours > 48 h had an increased risk of abnormal depressive symptoms by 4.29 times(95% CI: 1.44-12.78); compared with workers without anxiety, those with anxiety had an increased risk of abnormal depressive symptoms by 10.49 times(95% CI: 5.52-19.94). Marital status, education level, monthly income, enterprise character, industry type, and the presence or absence of sleep disturbances were not risk factors for depressive symptoms among these workers.

  Conclusions  Frontline workers with longer weekly working hours, specifically in labor-intensive enterprises with assembly line operations, were prone to having depressive symptoms. The enterprises should pay attention to older employees and those with longer working hours, improve organizational management systems, arrange working hours scientifically and rationally, and reduce the occurrence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among employees.