Job strain as a risk factor for leisure-time physical inactivity: an individual-participant meta-analysis of up to 170,000 men and women: the IPD-Work Consortium

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Eleonor I Fransson
  • Katriina Heikkilä
  • Solja T Nyberg
  • Marie Zins
  • Hugo Westerlund
  • Peter Westerholm
  • Ari Väänänen
  • Marianna Virtanen
  • Jussi Vahtera
  • Töres Theorell
  • Sakari Suominen
  • Archana Singh-Manoux
  • Johannes Siegrist
  • Séverine Sabia
  • Jaana Pentti
  • Tuula Oksanen
  • Maria Nordin
  • Martin L. Nielsen
  • Michael G Marmot
  • Linda L Magnusson Hanson
  • Ida E H Madsen
  • Thorsten Lunau
  • Constanze Leineweber
  • Meena Kumari
  • Anne Kouvonen
  • Aki Koskinen
  • Markku Koskenvuo
  • Anders Knutsson
  • France Kittel
  • Karl-Heinz Jöckel
  • Matti Joensuu
  • Irene L Houtman
  • Wendela E Hooftman
  • Marcel Goldberg
  • Goedele A Geuskens
  • Jane E Ferrie
  • Raimund Erbel
  • Nico Dragano
  • Dirk De Bacquer
  • Els Clays
  • Annalisa Casini
  • Hermann Burr
  • Marianne Borritz
  • Sébastien Bonenfant
  • Lars Alfredsson
  • Mark Hamer
  • G David Batty
  • Mika Kivimäki
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 1985-1988 to 2006-2008) 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 2-9 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.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAmerican Journal of Epidemiology
Volume176
Issue number12
Pages (from-to)1078-89
Number of pages12
ISSN0002-9262
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2012

    Research areas

  • Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Employment, Europe, Exercise, Female, Humans, Leisure Activities, Male, Occupational Diseases, Prevalence, Prospective Studies, Regression Analysis, Risk Factors, Sedentary Lifestyle, Stress, Psychological, Workplace

ID: 49595459