Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Volume 103, Issue 11, Pages 2090-2097Publisher
AMER PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOC INC
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301090
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- European Union NEW OSH ERA research program
- Finnish Work Environment Fund
- Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research
- German Social Accident Insurance
- Academy of Finland [132944]
- BUPA Foundation [22094477]
- Heinz Nixdorf Foundation (Germany)
- German Ministry of Education and Science
- German Research Foundation
- Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)
- Economic and Social Research Council professorial fellowship
- ESRC [ES/J023299/1, ES/F02679X/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- MRC [G0601647, G1000616, G0701830, G0902037, MR/K013351/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- British Heart Foundation [RG/10/005/28296, RG/13/2/30098, RG/07/008/23674] Funding Source: researchfish
- Economic and Social Research Council [ES/J023299/1, ES/F02679X/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- Medical Research Council [G19/35, G0701830, G0601647, G8802774, G1000616, G0902037, MR/K026992/1, MR/K013351/1, G0100222] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives. We examined the associations of job strain, an indicator of work-related stress, with overall unhealthy and healthy lifestyles. Methods. We conducted a meta-analysis of individual-level data from 11 European studies (cross-sectional data: n = 118 701; longitudinal data: n = 43 971). We analyzed job strain as a set of binary (job strain vs no job strain) and categorical (high job strain, active job, passive job, and low job strain) variables. Factors used to define healthy and unhealthy lifestyles were body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, and leisure-time physical activity. Results. Individuals with job strain were more likely than those with no job strain to have 4 unhealthy lifestyle factors (odds ratio [OR] = 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.12, 1.39) and less likely to have 4 healthy lifestyle factors (OR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.80, 0.99). The odds of adopting a healthy lifestyle during study follow-up were lower among individuals with high job strain than among those with low job strain (OR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.81, 0.96). Conclusions. Work-related stress is associated with unhealthy lifestyles and the absence of stress is associated with healthy lifestyles, but longitudinal analyses suggest no straightforward cause-effect relationship between work-related stress and lifestyle.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available