Frida Eek

The aim was to compare the impact of socioeconomic groups (SEG) on the risk of being a daily smoker or quitter, and to investigate whether the potentially mediating effect of psychosocial working conditions was similar in the Danish and the Swedish populations. The study populations consisted of 10,049 employed participants, aged 18-64 years, 51% women, randomly selected from the general populations in the Oresund region, 1999-2000. Odds ratios (OR) for daily-smokers and "non-quitters'' were computed for two age-groups and two SEGs in gender specific models, stratified by country. The association between SEG, current smoking, quitting, and influence at work, job demand and jobstrain, respectively, was tested by means of logistic regression. The contextual determinants defined by country had a different effect on smoking prevalence among men and women and among age groups. Low influence and job strain seemed to have an effect on smoking among Danish women, but not among Swedish women. The OR of being a daily smoker were higher in men than women among younger Danes, but higher in women than men among Swedes. The prevalence of low influence, high demand and job strain was higher and more socially skewed among the Swedes, but did not mediate the effect of SEG on smoking behaviour. The smoking prevalence was lower and the quit-rates higher among Swedes than Danes. Both countries had social differences in smoking that in absolute terms were rather similar, but in relative terms were higher in Sweden. The mediating effect of psychosocial working conditions was lacking. The determinants of smoking behaviours must be found somewhere else in the social and cultural context.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present analysis was to examine the prevalence and intraindividual stability of negative awakening responses in a healthy study population. Furthermore, it was of interest to elucidate the extent to which self-reported stress, sleep disturbances, or delay between awakening and the first salivary sample could explain the negative awakening response. METHODS: Altogether 142 participants, 75 women and 67 men, were monitored during 3 workdays and 1 weekend day. On each day, the participants collected saliva at awakening, 30 minutes after awakening, 8 hours after awakening, and at 2100. RESULTS: The daily prevalence of negative awakening responses varied between 19% on a workday and 38% on a day off. Altogether, 26% of the awakening responses were negative. Most of the participants had a mixture of positive and negative responses. The difference between positive and negative responses could not be explained by self-reported awakening time, subjective stress...

As more women have joined the work force, the difference in employment rate between men and women has decreased, in Sweden as well as many other countries. Despite this, traditional gender patterns regarding, for example, responsibility for household duties still remain. Women are on sick leave more often than men, and previous studies have indicated that an unequal split of household responsibilities and perceived gender inequality could be associated with negative health outcomes. The aim of the present study was to explore whether an unequal distribution of responsibilities in the home was related to various health related outcomes among women. A sample consisting of 837 women living in a relationship, and working at least 50% of full time, responded to a questionnaire including information about division of responsibilities at home as well as various psychological and physiological health related outcomes. The results showed that women living in relationships with perceived more unequal distribution of responsibility for house hold duties showed significantly higher levels of perceived stress, fatigue, physical/psychosomatic symptoms, and work family conflict compared with women living in more equal relationships. They also had significantly increased odds for insufficient time for various forms of recovery, which may further contribute to an increased risk of poor health. CONCLUSIONS ALTHOUGH AN INCREASING EMPLOYMENT RATE AMONG WOMEN IS VALUABLE FOR BOTH SOCIETY AND INDIVIDUALS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO WORK TOWARDS GREATER GENDER EQUALITY AT HOME TO MAINTAIN THIS DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT IT HAVING A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON WOMEN'S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.

... The performance of the methods was further evaluated by participation in inter-laboratory comparison schemes (Garde, Hansen, & Kristiansen, 2003; Hansen, Garde, Christensen, Eller, & Netterstrom, 2003; Westgard, Barry, Hunt, & Groth, 1981). Data analysis. ...

On account of the increasing worldwide problems associated with overweight and obesity, the aim of the present study was to examine BMI change over 5 years in relation to different lifestyle-, demographic- and psychosocial work-related factors. A cohort of 9913 persons responded to an identical survey in 2000 and 2005. BMI change over the period was examined in relation to gender, age, educational level, physical activity, job strain, and baseline BMI. Mean BMI as well as prevalence of overweight and obesity increased in the cohort; most among younger persons. In all groups but younger women, BMI increase was greatest in the lowest baseline BMI quartile. Low education was associated with increased BMI at baseline, but not with BMI change over time except among young women. Exercisers had lower BMI than non-exercising persons, and exercise pattern over time was also significantly associated with BMI change. The greatest BMI increase was found among exercise drop-outs, while those who had taken up exercise during the study period were the only group who did not show a significant BMI increase over the study period. Job strain showed inconsistent associations with BMI change. Although socioeconomic differences in BMI were observed, these inequalities did not appear to be increasing, except among young women. Persons with a low initial BMI increased more in weight than persons with a high initial BMI. Exercise behaviour appeared to be an important factor for maintaining, or avoiding heavy increase in, BMI.

Non-participation in health surveys is a common phenomenon. When differences between participants and non-participants are considerable, the external validity of the sample survey may decrease and false conclusions might be drawn about the health status of the population. For this reason, the authors aimed to investigate the representativity of a postal questionnaire survey performed in the county of Scania, Sweden, in 1999-2000. The survey, which was based on an 18- to 80-year-old population sample, had a 58% response rate (n = 13 604). For some variables, the information obtained using the questionnaire was compared with information obtained from a population register that covers all the population in the county (for the 18- to 80-year-old group, n = 850 476). The population register includes, among other data, information on age, gender, educational level, country of birth, and healthcare expenditure. Men, individuals with a low level of education, and immigrants were under-represented in the survey. However, except for immigrants, the under-representation was not large. Among immigrants, particularly those born in former Yugoslavia, the Arabic-speaking countries, and Poland were very significantly under-represented in the study. By contrast, immigrants born in other Nordic countries had responded to almost the same extent as respondents born in Sweden. The survey sample had about the same healthcare utilization costs as did the general population. In summary, the "Health Survey for Scania, 2000" seems largely representative of the total Scanian population. A major concern, however, is the under-representation of the immigrant population.

The need to combine active employment and parenthood is a reality for many parents today. Knowing more about which work place factors are associated with better or worse health could help employers to form a work environment that provides optimal conditions to maintain or increase health and work engagement in this group. The aim of this study was to explore possible associations between different subjective and objective work factors and benefits, and a range of outcome variables such as stress, symptom report, wellbeing, work-related fatigue, work engagement, and work-family conflict among working mothers and fathers with small children. Cross-sectional analyses of associations between work place factors categorised into three different dimensions; flexibility, benefits, and attitude and the outcome measures were performed, including questionnaire responses from 1562 working parents. The results showed that work place factors related to flexibility and, especially among women, attitude to parenthood appear to have the strongest effect on working parents' subjective stress and wellbeing, while benefits appear to have less impact. Except regarding factors related to attitudes at the work place, most associations were similar among men and women. Most likely, different factors are better suited or more important for some individuals than others depending on their total work, as well as family situation and also depending on individual factors such as personality and priorities. A positive attitude towards parenthood and a flexible work situation seem, however, beneficial for the general wellbeing and work engagement among working parents.

Salivary cortisol is widely used in occupational health research. However, many ordinary daily activities can influence the concentrations of cortisol and the interpretation of field studies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of lifestyle factors on salivary cortisol in everyday settings. Healthy employees participated in one or more sub-studies on the effect of eating a vegetable salad versus protein-rich mid-day meal (n = 40), drinking coffee and smoking (n = 12), drinking alcohol (n = 32), awakening at different times (n = 29) and exercising (n = 21). Cortisol in saliva was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA). When eating a mid-day meal, salivary cortisol was increased by 10 % (CI -1 % to 24 %) 1 h after eating compared to before eating in the case of both types of meal. Salivary cortisol increased by 80 % (CI 9 % to 199 %) after exercising compared to before exercise. The relative awakening response was approximately 100 % when using an alarm clock on both work-days and days off. However, the awakening response was 39 % (CI 10 % to 75 %) on a day off with spontaneous awakening. No effects of alcohol, coffee or smoking were observed. In field studies, the biological variation in salivary cortisol may be reduced by restricting physical exercise and in collecting pre-meal samples. However, the protein content of food and moderate consumption of alcohol had no effect on concentrations of cortisol. Differences in relative awakening responses on work-days and days off are related to time and mode of awakening.

This study prospectively examined the effects of a change of shift schedule from a fast forward-rotating schedule to a slowly backward-rotating one. The initial schedule had a forward rotation from mornings to afternoons to nights over 6 consecutive days, with 2 days on each shift followed by 4 days off before the next iteration of the cycle, whereas the new schedule had a slower backward rotation from mornings to nights to afternoons, with 3 days on a given shift followed by 3 days off before the next shift. Shift workers (n = 118) were compared with a reference group of daytime workers (n = 67) from the same manufacturing plant by means of questionnaires covering subjective health, sleep and fatigue, recovery ability, satisfaction with work hours, work-family interface, and job demands, control, and support. Data were collected 6 months before implementing the new schedule and at a follow-up 15 months later. As predicted, on most dimensions measured the shift workers displayed clear improvements from initially poorer scores than daytime workers, and the daytime workers displayed no improvements.