| 1. |
- Theorell, Töres, et al.
(author)
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Job strain in relation to body mass index : pooled analysis of 160 000 adults from 13 cohort studies
- 2012
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In: Journal of Internal Medicine. - : Wiley. - 0954-6820 .- 1365-2796. ; 272:1, s. 65-73
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Job strain in relation to body mass index: pooled analysis of 160 000 adults from 13 cohort studies. J Intern Med 2012; 272: 6573. Background. Evidence of an association between job strain and obesity is inconsistent, mostly limited to small-scale studies, and does not distinguish between categories of underweight or obesity subclasses. Objectives. To examine the association between job strain and body mass index (BMI) in a large adult population. Methods. We performed a pooled cross-sectional analysis based on individual-level data from 13 European studies resulting in a total of 161 746 participants (49% men, mean age, 43.7 years). Longitudinal analysis with a median follow-up of 4 years was possible for four cohort studies (n = 42 222). Results. A total of 86 429 participants were of normal weight (BMI 18.524.9 kg m-2), 2149 were underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg m-2), 56 572 overweight (BMI 25.029.9 kg m-2) and 13 523 class I (BMI 3034.9 kg m-2) and 3073 classes II/III (BMI = 35 kg m-2) obese. In addition, 27 010 (17%) participants reported job strain. In cross-sectional analyses, we found increased odds of job strain amongst underweight [odds ratio 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.001.25], obese class I (odds ratio 1.07, 95% CI 1.021.12) and obese classes II/III participants (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 1.011.28) as compared with participants of normal weight. In longitudinal analysis, both weight gain and weight loss were related to the onset of job strain during follow-up. Conclusions. In an analysis of European data, we found both weight gain and weight loss to be associated with the onset of job strain, consistent with a U-shaped cross-sectional association between job strain and BMI. These associations were relatively modest; therefore, it is unlikely that intervention to reduce job strain would be effective in combating obesity at a population level.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Fransson, Eleonor, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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Job strain as a risk factor for leisure-time physical inactivity : an individual-participant meta-analysis of up to 170,000 men and women
- 2012
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In: American Journal of Epidemiology. - Cary : Oxford University Press. - 0002-9262 .- 1476-6256. ; 176:12, s. 1078-1089
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Unfavorable work characteristics, such as low job control and too high or too low job demands, have been suggested to increase the likelihood of physical inactivity during leisure time, but this has not been verified in large-scale studies. The authors combined individual-level data from 14 European cohort studies (baseline years from 19851988 to 20062008) to examine the association between unfavorable work characteristics and leisure-time physical inactivity in a total of 170,162 employees (50 women; mean age, 43.5 years). Of these employees, 56,735 were reexamined after 29 years. In cross-sectional analyses, the odds for physical inactivity were 26 higher (odds ratio 1.26, 95 confidence interval: 1.15, 1.38) for employees with high-strain jobs (low control/high demands) and 21 higher (odds ratio 1.21, 95 confidence interval: 1.11, 1.31) for those with passive jobs (low control/low demands) compared with employees in low-strain jobs (high control/low demands). In prospective analyses restricted to physically active participants, the odds of becoming physically inactive during follow-up were 21 and 20 higher for those with high-strain (odds ratio 1.21, 95 confidence interval: 1.11, 1.32) and passive (odds ratio 1.20, 95 confidence interval: 1.11, 1.30) jobs at baseline. These data suggest that unfavorable work characteristics may have a spillover effect on leisure-time physical activity.
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| 4. |
- Heikkila, Katriina, et al.
(author)
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Job Strain and Alcohol Intake : A Collaborative Meta-Analysis of Individual-Participant Data from 140 000 Men and Women
- 2012
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:7, s. Art. no. e40101-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The relationship between work-related stress and alcohol intake is uncertain. In order to add to the thus far inconsistent evidence from relatively small studies, we conducted individual-participant meta-analyses of the association between work-related stress (operationalised as self-reported job strain) and alcohol intake. Methodology and Principal Findings: We analysed cross-sectional data from 12 European studies (n = 142 140) and longitudinal data from four studies (n = 48 646). Job strain and alcohol intake were self-reported. Job strain was analysed as a binary variable (strain vs. no strain). Alcohol intake was harmonised into the following categories: none, moderate (women: 1-14, men: 1-21 drinks/week), intermediate (women: 15-20, men: 22-27 drinks/week) and heavy (women: > 20, men: > 27 drinks/week). Cross-sectional associations were modelled using logistic regression and the results pooled in random effects meta-analyses. Longitudinal associations were examined using mixed effects logistic and modified Poisson regression. Compared to moderate drinkers, non-drinkers and (random effects odds ratio (OR): 1.10, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.14) and heavy drinkers (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.26) had higher odds of job strain. Intermediate drinkers, on the other hand, had lower odds of job strain (OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.99). We found no clear evidence for longitudinal associations between job strain and alcohol intake. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that compared to moderate drinkers, non-drinkers and heavy drinkers are more likely and intermediate drinkers less likely to report work-related stress.
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| 5. |
- Heikkila, Katriina, et al.
(author)
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Job Strain and Tobacco Smoking : An Individual-Participant Data Meta-Analysis of 166 130 Adults in 15 European Studies
- 2012
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Tobacco smoking is a major contributor to the public health burden and healthcare costs worldwide, but the determinants of smoking behaviours are poorly understood. We conducted a large individual-participant meta-analysis to examine the extent to which work-related stress, operationalised as job strain, is associated with tobacco smoking in working adults. Methodology and Principal Findings: We analysed cross-sectional data from 15 European studies comprising 166 130 participants. Longitudinal data from six studies were used. Job strain and smoking were self-reported. Smoking was harmonised into three categories never, ex- and current. We modelled the cross-sectional associations using logistic regression and the results pooled in random effects meta-analyses. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine longitudinal associations. Of the 166 130 participants, 17% reported job strain, 42% were never smokers, 33% ex-smokers and 25% current smokers. In the analyses of the cross-sectional data, current smokers had higher odds of job strain than never-smokers (age, sex and socioeconomic position-adjusted odds ratio: 1.11, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.18). Current smokers with job strain smoked, on average, three cigarettes per week more than current smokers without job strain. In the analyses of longitudinal data (1 to 9 years of follow-up), there was no clear evidence for longitudinal associations between job strain and taking up or quitting smoking. Conclusions: Our findings show that smokers are slightly more likely than non-smokers to report work-related stress. In addition, smokers who reported work stress smoked, on average, slightly more cigarettes than stress-free smokers.
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| 6. |
- Lundström, Ulla, et al.
(author)
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Advances in understanding the podzolization process resulting from a multidisciplinary study of three coniferous forest soils in the Nordic Countries
- 2000
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In: Geoderma. - 0016-7061 .- 1872-6259. ; 94:04-feb, s. 335-353
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Geochemical, mineralogical, micromorphological, microbiological, hydrochemical and hpdrological joint investigations were performed at two coniferous podzolic sites in the north of Sweden and at one in the south of Finland. Mycorrhizal fungi were found to create numerous pens (3-10-mu m diameter) in many weatherable mineral grains in the eluvial (E) horizon. During the growing season, identified low molecular weight (LMW) organic acids such as citric, shikimic, oxalic and fumaric acids comprised 0.5-5% of the DOC and 0.5-15% of the total acidity in soil solutions. Between 20% and 40% of the dissolved Al was bound to the identified LMW organic acids. Mineral dissolution via complexing LMW acids, probably exuded in part by the mycorrhiza hyphae, is likely to be a major weathering process in podzols. We found no evidence for a decreasing C/metal ratio of the migrating organo-metal complexes that could explain the precipitation of secondary Fe and AL in the illuvial (B) horizon. Instead, microbial degradation of organic ligands resulting in the release of ionic,Al and Fe to the soil solution may he an important process facilitating the formation of solid Al-SI-OH and Fe-OH phases in the podzol B horizon. However, within the B horizon transport as proto-imogilite (PI) sols might be possible. In the B horizon, the extractable,Al and Fe was predominantly inorganic. The large specific surface area (SSA) removable by oxalate extraction, the high point of zero charge salt effect (PZSE), the low cation exchange capacity (CEC) and the high sulphate exchange capacity (SEC), painted to the presence of short-range ordered variable charge phases. Imogolite type material (ITM) was indeed identified in all B horizons by IR spectroscopy and crystalline imogolite was found in the deep B horizon of one profile. Mossbauer spectroscopy indicated that Fe in the form of ferrihydrite was formed by intergrowth with an Al-Si-OH phase. The high amounts of Fe and Al transported from the O to the E horizon indicate that there could be an upward transport of these elements before they are leached to the B horizon. We hypothesize that the LMW Al complexes an transported by hyphae to the mor (O) layer, partly released and subsequently complexed by high molecular weight (HMW) acids.
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| 7. |
- Theorell, Töres, et al.
(author)
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Job Strain as a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes : A Pooled Analysis of 124,808 Men and Women
- 2014
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In: Diabetes Care. - : American Diabetes Association. - 0149-5992 .- 1935-5548. ; 37:8, s. 2268-2275
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVE The status of psychosocial stress at work as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes is unclear because existing evidence is based on small studies and is subject to confounding by lifestyle factors, such as obesity and physical inactivity. This collaborative study examined whether stress at work, defined as "job strain," is associated with incident type 2 diabetes independent of lifestyle factors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We extracted individual-level data for 124,808 diabetes-free adults from 13 European cohort studies participating in the IPD-Work Consortium. We measured job strain with baseline questionnaires. Incident type 2 diabetes at follow-up was ascertained using national health registers, clinical screening, and self-reports. We analyzed data for each study using Cox regression and pooled the study-specific estimates in fixed-effect meta-analyses. RESULTS There were 3,703 cases of incident diabetes during a mean follow-up of 10.3 years. After adjustment for age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES), the hazard ratio (HR) for job strain compared with no job strain was 1.15 (95% CI 1.06-1.25) with no difference between men and women (1.19 [1.06-1.34] and 1.13 [1.00-1.28], respectively). In stratified analyses, job strain was associated with an increased risk of diabetes among those with healthy and unhealthy lifestyle habits. In a multivariable model adjusted for age, sex, SES, and lifestyle habits, the HR was 1.11 (1.00-1.23). CONCLUSIONS Findings from a large pan-European dataset suggest that job strain is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes in men and women independent of lifestyle factors.
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| 8. |
- Virtanen, Marianna, et al.
(author)
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Long working hours and depressive symptoms : systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data
- 2018
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health. - : Nordic Association of Occupational Safety and Health. - 0355-3140 .- 1795-990X. ; 44:3, s. 239-250
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives This systematic review and meta-analysis combined published study-level data and unpublished individual-participant data with the aim of quantifying the relation between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms. Methods We searched PubMed and Embase for published prospective cohort studies and included available cohorts with unpublished individual-participant data. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate summary estimates across studies. Results We identified ten published cohort studies and included unpublished individual-participant data from 18 studies. In the majority of cohorts, long working hours was defined as working ≥55 hours per week. In multivariable-adjusted meta-analyses of 189 729 participants from 35 countries [96 275 men, 93 454 women, follow-up ranging from 1-5 years, 21 747 new-onset cases), there was an overall association of 1.14 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.25] between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms, with significant evidence of heterogeneity (I 2=45.1%, P=0.004). A moderate association between working hours and depressive symptoms was found in Asian countries (1.50, 95% CI 1.13-2.01), a weaker association in Europe (1.11, 95% CI 1.00-1.22), and no association in North America (0.97, 95% CI 0.70-1.34) or Australia (0.95, 95% CI 0.70-1.29). Differences by other characteristics were small. Conclusions This observational evidence suggests a moderate association between long working hours and onset of depressive symptoms in Asia and a small association in Europe.
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| 9. |
- Ervasti, Jenni, et al.
(author)
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Long working hours and risk of 50 health conditions and mortality outcomes : a multicohort study in four European countries
- 2021
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In: The Lancet Regional Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 2666-7762. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Studies on the association between long working hours and health have captured only a narrow range of outcomes (mainly cardiometabolic diseases and depression) and no outcome-wide studies on this topic are available. To achieve wider scope of potential harm, we examined long working hours as a risk factor for a wide range of disease and mortality endpoints.Methods: The data of this multicohort study were from two population cohorts from Finland (primary analysis, n=59 599) and nine cohorts (replication analysis, n=44 262) from Sweden, Denmark, and the UK, all part of the Individual-participant Meta-analysis in Working Populations (IPD-Work) consortium. Baseline-assessed long working hours (≥55 hours per week) were compared to standard working hours (35-40 h). Outcome measures with follow-up until age 65 years were 46 diseases that required hospital treatment or continuous pharmacotherapy, all-cause, and three cause-specific mortality endpoints, ascertained via linkage to national health and mortality registers.Findings: 2747 (4·6%) participants in the primary cohorts and 3027 (6·8%) in the replication cohorts worked long hours. After adjustment for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, working long hours was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death (hazard ratio 1·68; 95% confidence interval 1·08-2·61 in primary analysis and 1·52; 0·90-2·58 in replication analysis), infections (1·37; 1·13-1·67 and 1·45; 1·13-1·87), diabetes (1·18; 1·01-1·38 and 1·41; 0·98-2·02), injuries (1·22; 1·00-1·50 and 1·18; 0·98-1·18) and musculoskeletal disorders (1·15; 1·06-1·26 and 1·13; 1·00-1·27). Working long hours was not associated with all-cause mortality.Interpretation: Follow-up of 50 health outcomes in four European countries suggests that working long hours is associated with an elevated risk of early cardiovascular death and hospital-treated infections before age 65. Associations, albeit weak, were also observed with diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and injuries. In these data working long hours was not related to elevated overall mortality.
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| 10. |
- Fransson, Eleonor, 1971-, et al.
(author)
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Comparison of alternative versions of the job demand-control scales in 17 European cohort studies : the IPD-Work consortium
- 2012
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In: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 12, s. 62-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Job strain (i.e., high job demands combined with low job control) is a frequently used indicator of harmful work stress, but studies have often used partial versions of the complete multi-item job demands and control scales. Understanding whether the different instruments assess the same underlying concepts has crucial implications for the interpretation of findings across studies, harmonisation of multi-cohort data for pooled analyses, and design of future studies. As part of the 'IPD-Work' (Individual-participant-data meta-analysis in working populations) consortium, we compared different versions of the demands and control scales available in 17 European cohort studies. Methods: Six of the 17 studies had information on the complete scales and 11 on partial scales. Here, we analyse individual level data from 70 751 participants of the studies which had complete scales (5 demand items, 6 job control items). Results: We found high Pearson correlation coefficients between complete scales of job demands and control relative to scales with at least three items (r > 0.90) and for partial scales with two items only (r = 0.76-0.88). In comparison with scores from the complete scales, the agreement between job strain definitions was very good when only one item was missing in either the demands or the control scale (kappa > 0.80); good for job strain assessed with three demand items and all six control items (kappa > 0.68) and moderate to good when items were missing from both scales (kappa = 0.54-0.76). The sensitivity was > 0.80 when only one item was missing from either scale, decreasing when several items were missing in one or both job strain subscales. Conclusions: Partial job demand and job control scales with at least half of the items of the complete scales, and job strain indices based on one complete and one partial scale, seemed to assess the same underlying concepts as the complete survey instruments.
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