ORIGINAL PAPER
New market labor and obesity:
A nation-wide Italian cross-sectional study
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1
Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy
(Department of Biomedical Science and Public Health)
2
Italian National Research Center on Aging, Ancona, Italy
Online publication date: 2016-07-27
Corresponding author
Pamela Barbadoro
Polytechnic University of Marche, Department of Biomedical Science and Public Health, via Tronto 10/A, 60126 Ancona, Italy
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2016;29(6):903-14
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of obesity among different types of employment status in the Italian working
population, and to examine associated risk factors. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 36 814 people that
declared to have been occupied with the same type of contract for at least 5 years was analyzed. Multivariable logistic
regression models were built considering workers’ sex, age, education, family body mass index (BMI) category, leisure
time and occupational physical activity, weight control habits, smoking habit, use of drugs, number of working hours per
week, and type of working contract. Results: After adjusting for covariates, the importance of temporary-employment
was confirmed by multivariate analysis, with odds ratio (OR) = 1.32 for obesity (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07–1.63)
with respect to employed persons; the association was even more important in workers occupied for more than 40 h/week
(OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.07–2.66); moreover, shiftwork was confirmed as a risk factor for obesity in workers (OR = 1.06,
95% CI: 0.94–1.2). Dealing with different occupational group, some categories were associated with obesity; in particular,
this phenomenon involved people employed in agriculture (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.22–1.7), transportation (OR = 1.53,
95% CI: 1.26–1.85), and public administration (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.1–1.55). Conclusions: Our analysis suggest that
obesity is strongly correlated with temporary employment. Maybe the way out this pathway to obesity in the future might
be working better, choosing organizational flexibility rather than fixed term. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2016;29(6):903–914