Job Strain and Obesity

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baker, Dean B. ; Choi B ; Dobson M ; Ko S ; Landsbergis P ; Schnall P ; Yang H
• Description:
  We read with great interest the paper by Nyberg et al. on job strain (a work stressor combining low job control and high psychological job demands) in relation to body mass index (BMI) using 13 European cohort studies. First of all, we think that the authors' brief characterization of the existing literature as being null or mixed does not give appropriate weight to the consistency of studies that have reported significant associations between job strain and obesity. Several longitudinal studies have supported that job strain, by itself or in combination with low social support at work, is associated with obesity in working populations. Ishizaki et al. reported that whilst the cumulative (baseline and follow-up) exposure of job strain was not associated with increased BMI, it was associated with increased waist circumference in Japanese workers. Choi et al. found a dose-response association between the cumulative exposure of job strain and abdominal obesity (based on waist circumference) in US workers (the MIDUS study). Brunner et al. also found a dose-response association between the frequency of iso-strain (the combination of job strain and low social support at work) and obesity (based on both BMI and waist circumference) in British workers (Whitehall II Study). Furthermore, the authors reported elsewhere that job strain was longitudinally associated with leisure-time physical inactivity in their European cohort data. This letter is in response to Job strain in relation to body mass index: pooled analysis of 160 000 adults from 13 cohort studies. J Intern Med. 2012 Jul; 272(1):65-73https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02482.x. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  BMI Body Mass Index Health Effects Job Stress Obesity Risk Factors Worker Health Work Experience
• ISSN:
  0954-6820
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  438-440
• Volume:
  275
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056010
• Citation:
  J Intern Med 2014 Apr; 275(4):438-440
• Contact Point Address:
  Bongkyoo Choi, Center for Occupational and Environment al Health, University of California, 100 Theory, Irvine, CA 92617, USA
• Email:
  b.choi@uci.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of California Los Angeles
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Internal Medicine
• End Date:
  20270630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4a8787d071d41f4cafd648adae8aa5f3c40eca29dd5d479ac4f91a9894c46b1617e19f4a0253a90bdaa226d2fc68c1635d3720707291a1051bba84e422426dad
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213726/cdc_213726_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 483.29 KB ]