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Job strain not associated with weight gain, obesity risk
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A stressful job does not affect a person’s risk for obesity or gaining weight, according to research in International Journal of Obesity.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of eight prospective studies on the associations between job strain, changes in job strain, weight gain and obesity, researchers also found that a reduction in job strain over time was not linked to a lower risk for obesity, while adults who experienced an increase in job strain over time also increased their obesity risk vs. those with no persistent job strain.
“These longitudinal findings on job strain and obesity are not consistent with the hypothesis that job strain is an important risk factor for obesity,” Mika Kivimaki, PhD, of the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London, U.K., and colleagues wrote.
In a fixed meta-analysis of the eight studies, Kivimaki and colleagues found the minimally adjusted pooled OR for job strain vs. no job strain was 1 (95% CI, 0.89-1.13; total n = 42,222). A pooled OR also showed no association between job strain and weight gain (OR = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.99-1.09); however, researchers found an association between job strain and weight gain in women in two studies (OR = 1.8; 95% CI, 1-3.24, and OR = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.05-1.49).
Researchers found that adults who reported job strain at baseline, but not at follow-up, did not have a lower risk for obesity vs. those who experienced job strain throughout (pooled OR = 1.13; 95% CI, 0.9-1.41), but those who reported increasing job strain at follow-up had an increased risk for obesity vs. those reporting no persistent job strain (OR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.02-1.36).
“These findings suggest that job strain may not be an important risk factor for obesity and that job strain interventions alone, although improving psychological wellbeing at work, are not likely to alleviate the obesity epidemic, even in the working populations,” the researchers wrote. “However, because of the limitations in the published studies, we cannot exclude the possibility that there are subgroups of individuals who gain weight under job strain.” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: the researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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