Working conditions and weight gain: a 28-year follow-up study of industrial employees (original) (raw)
Abstract
Longitudinal studies observing working conditions and weight gain are rare. We aimed to study whether weight gain can be predicted by working conditions or changes in them in a 28-year follow-up. The study population consisted of working-aged industrial employees (n = 449). Data on height and weight were collected in clinical examinations in 1973, 1983 and 2001, and information on working conditions by questionnaires. We analysed the impact of changes in physical strain, temporal requirements and indicators of mental strain at work in 1973 and 1983 on weight changes using analysis of variance, logistic regression analysis and linear mixed longitudinal growth model. The latter was done to account for individual variation in temporal weight change over the study period. Weight gain was prominent in the data and about a third of the participants gained at least 15 kg by the final survey. Changes in physical strain and temporal requirements including working overtime hours among men, and experiencing increased working pace among women, were associated with greater mean weight gain and major weight gain. Job efforts and increasing mental strain showed weak associations with weight gain in men. Changes in the physical strain and temporal requirements seem to predict weight gain but working conditions were in general mostly weakly associated with weight gain in this cohort of initially young adults. The results highlight the importance of stable working hours and reasonable workload on healthy weight.
Access this article
Subscribe and save
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime Subscribe now
Buy Now
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.
Instant access to the full article PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
- Ball K, Crawford D. Socioeconomic status and weigh change in adults: a review. Soc Sci Med 2005;60:1987–2010.
Article PubMed Google Scholar - Torgen M, Kilbom A. Physical work load between 1970 and 1993—did it change? Scand J Work Environ Health 2000;26:161–8.
PubMed CAS Google Scholar - Brownson RC, Boehmer TK, Luke DA. Declining rates of physical activity in the United States: what are the contributors? Annu Rev Public Health 2005;26:421–43.
Article PubMed Google Scholar - Frese M. The changing nature of work. In: Chmiel N, editor. Introduction to work and organisational psychology. Blackwell Publishing; 2000. p. 424–39.
- Overgaard D, Gyntelberg F, Heitman BL. Psychological workload and body weight: is there an association? A review of the literature. Occup Med 2004;54:35–41.
Article CAS Google Scholar - Hannerz H, Albertsen K, Nielsen ML, Tüchsen F, Burr H. Occupational factors and 5-year weight change among men in a Danish national cohort. Health Psychol 2004;23:283–8.
Article PubMed Google Scholar - Lallukka T, Laaksonen M, Martikainen P, Sarlio-Lähteenkorva S, Lahelma E. Psychosocial working conditions and weight gain among employees. Int J Obes 2005;29:909–15.
Article CAS Google Scholar - Overgaard D, Gamborg M, Gyntelberg F, Heitman BL. Psychological workload is associated with weight gain between 1993 and 1999: analyses based on the Danish Nurse Cohort Study. Int J Obes 2004;28:1072–81.
Article CAS Google Scholar - Stier H, Lewin-Epstein N. Time to work: a comparative analysis of preferences for working hours. Work Occup 2003;30:302–26.
Article Google Scholar - Geliebter A, Gluck ME, Tanowitz M, Aronoff NJ, Zammit GK. Work-shift period and weight change. Nutrition 2000;16:27–9.
Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar - Niedhammer I, Lert F, Marne M-J. Prevalence of overweight and weight gain in relation to night work in a nurses’ cohort. Int J Obes 1996;20:625–33.
CAS Google Scholar - Shields M. Long working hours and health. Health Rep 1999;11:33–48.
PubMed CAS Google Scholar - Nakamura K, Shimai S, Kikuchi S, et al. Increases in body mass index and waist circumference as outcomes of working overtime. Occup Med 1998;48:169–73.
Article CAS Google Scholar - Yamada Y, Kameda N, Noborisaka Y, Suzuki H, Honda M, Yamada S. Excessive fatigue and weight gain among cleanroom workers after changing from 8-hour to 12-hour shift. Scand J Work Environ Health 2001;27:318–26.
PubMed CAS Google Scholar - Siegrist J. Psychosocial work environment and health: new evidence. J Epidemiol Community Health 2004;58:888.
Article PubMed Google Scholar - METELI. Health examination: sampling, methods and implementation. Reports of the Research Institute of Physical Culture and Health No. 9, Jyväskylä, 1975 (in Finnish with English summary).
- Kirjonen J, Telama R, Luukkonen R, Kääriä S, Kaila-Kangas L, Leino-Arjas P. Stability and prediction of physical activity in 5-, 10- and 28-year follow-up studies among industrial employees. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2006;16:201–8.
Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar - Kivimäki M, Leino-Arjas P, Luukkonen R, Riihimäki H, Vahtera J, Kirjonen J. Work stress and risk of cardiovascular mortality: prospective cohort study of industrial employees. BMJ 2002;325:857–60.
Article PubMed Google Scholar - Laird NM, Ware JH. Random-effects models for longitudinal data. Biometrics 1982;38:963–74.
Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar - R Development Core Team. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, 2004. http://www.R-project.org.
- Lahti-Koski M, Jousilahti P, Pietinen P. Secular trends in body mass index by birth cohort in eastern Finland from 1972 to 1997. Int J Obes 2001;25:727–734.
Article CAS Google Scholar - Lallukka T, Sarlio-Lähteenkorva S, Roos E, Laaksonen M, Rahkonen O, Lahelma E. Working conditions and health behaviours among employed women and men: the Helsinki Health Study. Prev Med 2005;38:48–56.
Article Google Scholar - Rosmond R. Aetiology of obesity: a striving after wind? Obes Rev 2004;5:177–81.
Article PubMed CAS Google Scholar - Helakorpi S, Uutela A, Prättälä R, Puska P. Health behavior and health among Finnish adult population, Spring 2000. Helsinki: National Public Health Institute; 2000.
Google Scholar
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Academy of Finland (project number 70139) and the Ministry of Education, Finland (188/722/2000 and 146/722/2001). S-SL was supported by Eurobese-project, EU Contract No 016646.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
- Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 41, 00014, University of Helsinki, Finland
Tea Lallukka, Sirpa Sarlio-Lähteenkorva & Janne Pitkäniemi - Centre of Expertise for Health and Work Ability, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41a, 00250, Helsinki, Finland
Leena Kaila-Kangas & Päivi Leino-Arjas - Centre of Expertise for Good Practices and Competence, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41a, 00250, Helsinki, Finland
Ritva Luukkonen
Authors
- Tea Lallukka
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Sirpa Sarlio-Lähteenkorva
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Leena Kaila-Kangas
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Janne Pitkäniemi
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Ritva Luukkonen
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Päivi Leino-Arjas
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
Corresponding author
Correspondence toTea Lallukka.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lallukka, T., Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, S., Kaila-Kangas, L. et al. Working conditions and weight gain: a 28-year follow-up study of industrial employees.Eur J Epidemiol 23, 303–310 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-008-9233-7
- Received: 30 June 2006
- Accepted: 19 February 2008
- Published: 06 March 2008
- Issue Date: April 2008
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-008-9233-7