Association between shift work and obesity in a large sample of Iranian steel industry workers

Abstract

Obesity is associated with several chronic diseases, and previous research suggests that shift work could be associated with the risk of overweight and obesity, but the results remain inconclusive. Furthermore, only a few studies report related findings for industrial workforce with high job-related stress. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to see if such association exists in a large sample of 3063 industrial workers in a developing country. The sample was selected among 16,000 steel company workers through multistage cluster sampling. We took anthropometric measurements, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Information about potential confounders was collected with a self-administered questionnaire. The association between shift work and both general and abdominal obesity was established with multinomial and binary logistic regression analysis. The study sample consisted of 1683 (54.9 %) rotational shift workers and 1380 (45.1 %) day workers. Shift work was significantly associated with higher risk of overweight after adjusting for the impacts of potential confounders (OR=1.2; 95 % CI:1.04–1.4) but not with abdominal obesity. This study established that shift work was an independent risk factor for overweight in industrial shift workers. Modification of working schedules is recommended, particularly for prolonged, continuous shift work.