Table 2.

Stress and adiposity, prospective cohort studies.

References	Study design	Sample size	Exposure	Outcome	Adjusted for	Groups compared	Most adjusted results
(29)	5–7 years cohort	7332 men and women	Job content Q	Weight gain	Age, baseline weight, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical exercise, limiting longstanding illness, common mental disorders, and employment status at the follow-up	Low job strain vs high job strain	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.07 (0.70–1.63)
The Helsinki Health Study cohort	Women: OR (95% CI), 1.15 (0.95–1.38)
(35)	3 years cohort	136 men and 3647 women	COPSO Q	BMI gain	Analyses on role conflicts were adjusted for: age, cohabitation, type of work position, seniority, and physical work demands. No adjustments were made regarding meaning of work	Meaning of work	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.1 (0.75–1.62)
The COPSOQ-study						Women: OR (95% CI), 1.02 (0.95–1.09)
				BMI loss			Men: OR (95% CI), 1.95 (1.04–3.66)
						Women: OR (95% CI), 1.07 (0.97–1.19)
				BMI gain		Role conflicts	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.00 (0.74–1.35)
						Women: OR (95% CI), 1.13 (1.06–1.19)
				BMI loss			Men: OR (95% CI), 0.84 (0.54–1.31)
						Women: OR (95% CI), 1.02 (0.93–1.11)
(26)	2 years cohort	3224 men and women	COPSO Q	Change in BMI	Age, sex, education, personal annual income, leadership responsibilities of other employees, shiftwork, number of stressful life events in the last 6 months, neuroticism and extraversion, and loneliness	Higher demand	B-estimate (95% CI)
The PRISME study						Lower decision latitude	0.16 (−0.14 to 0.45)
						Lower social support	−0.17 (−0.64 to 0.30)
						Higher effort–reward imbalance	−0.003 (−0.30 to 0.24)
					0.11 (−0.59 to 0.80)
(20)	11.2 years cohort	3703 men and women	Close person Q	>10% increase in BMI	Gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, baseline BMI, employment grade, smoking status, moderate physical activity, vigorous physical activity, daily fruit and vegetable consumption, and common mental disorder	Per one-unit increase in the negative aspects score	OR (95% CI), 1.06 (1.02–1.10)
The Whitehall II study cohort		3224 men and women	>10% increase in waist circumference (WC)	Per one-unit increase in the negative aspects score	OR (95% CI), 1.06 (1.02–1.10)
(16)	6.4 years cohort	466 men and women	General health Q	WC >102 cm in men or >88 cm in women	Baseline value of psychological distress	High psychological distress vs low psychological distress	OR (95% CI), 2.5 (1.5–4.0)
A study cohort of middle aged subjects from Finland
(27)	2 years cohort	52 men and 20 women	Job demand control Q	Change in BMI	Age, gender, baseline BMI, and education	Job-demand control imbalance	No significant association
A cohort of employees from a Swiss service provider			Effort–reward imbalance Q			Effort–rewards imbalance	No significant association
(25)	4 years cohort	1670 men and women	Kessler 6 scale on psychological distress	Change in BMI	Age, sex, country of birth, marital status, income, alcohol consumption, and smoking	Low psychological distress vs high psychological distress	Decreased BMI: OR (95% CI), 1.08 (0.69–1.70)
The longitudinal study of Australian Children cohort							Increased BMI: OR (95% CI), 1.38 (1.00–1.90)
(18)	18 years cohort	4398 men and 1923 women	Justice at work Q	WC >120 cm in men or >88 cm in women	Age, ethnicity, and employment grade	Low justice at work vs high justice at work	Men: HR (95% CI), 0.68 (0.56–0.82)
The Whitehall II study cohort							Women: HR (95% CI), 0.80 (0.64–0.98)
(22)	13 years cohort	416 men and 757 women	Perceived stress scale	Change in BMI	Stress, age, baseline BMI, smoking, education, occupation, and financial strain	Highest tertile of perceived stress vs lowest tertile of perceived stress	Men: β (s.e.m.)=−0.46 (2.37), P=0.846
The Pitt County study							Women: β (s.e.m.)=3.49 (1.76), P=0.048
(36)	5 years cohort	4424 men and 5488 women	Job content Q	Change in BMI	Age, smoking, education level, marital status, country of birth, exercise pattern, and baseline BMI quartiles	Longstanding job strain vs no job strain	Women: 40–59 years old, P<0.019
							Women: 18–39 and 60–80 years old, NS
							Men all ages, NS
(21)	9.2 years cohort	1355 men and women	Study specific scales on job-related demands, perceived constraint in life, strain in relations with family, strain in relation with spouse/partner, and strain in relation with friends	Change in BMI	BMI, age, race, income, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attack, depression, smoking, diabetes, self-rated health, and self-rated relative health	Job-related demands	Men: β (s.e.m.)=0.16 (0.04), P<0.001
The MIDUS study							Women: β (s.e.m.)=0.18 (0.05), P<0.001
						Strain in relations with family	Men: β (s.e.m.)=0.04 (0.04), P=0.34
							Women: β (s.e.m.)=0.08 (0.03), P=0.016
						Perceived constraint in life	Men: β (s.e.m.)=−0.001 (0.02), P=0.96
							Women: β (s.e.m.)=0.06 (0.02), P<0.001
(30)	10 years cohort	328 men and women	Study specific question about mental strain at work	Weight gain >15 kg	Age, BMI, occupational status, and education	Increased job stress vs stable or decreased	Men: OR (95% CI), 0.8 (0.4–1.4)
A cohort of employees from the engineering industry in Finland							Women: OR (95% CI), 2.0 (0.9–4.8)
	28 years cohort	305 men and women	Effort–reward imbalance			Low effort–reward imbalance vs high effort reward imbalance	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.7 (0.7–4.4)
							Women: OR (95% CI), 0.6 (0.2–2.6)
(31)	6 years cohort	2200 men and 1371 women	Job demand control Q	Change in BMI above the 75th percentile	Age, sedentary job, shift work, smoking, alcohol, exercise, education, and marital status	High job strain vs low job strain	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.23 (0.95–1.59)
A cohort of employees from a factory in Japan							Women: OR (95% CI), 0.92 (0.66–1.29)
				Change in WC above the 75th percentile			Men: OR (95% CI), 1.39 (1.07–1.79)
							Women: OR (95% CI), 1.78 (1.26–2.52)
(34)	19 years cohort	6895 men and 3413 women	Job demand control Q	Change in BMI	Age, height, employment grade, education, and health behaviors	Over three episodes of iso-strain vs no iso-strain	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.92 (1.13–3.24)
The Whitehall II study cohort							Women: OR (95% CI), 3.38 (1.16–9.80)
				Change in WC		Over three episodes of iso-strain vs no iso-strain	Men: OR (95% CI), 1.46 (1.14–1.87)
							Women: OR (95% CI), 2.26 (0.78–6.54)
(32)	5 years cohort	5547 men and 2418 women	Modified version of the job demand control Q		Age, employment grade, and baseline BMI	The association between job strain at baseline and BMI at follow-up	Men: B (P value): 0.005 (0.82)
The Whitehall II study cohort							Women: B (P value): 0.062 (0.14)
				Weight gain among those with highest quartile of baseline BMI		Per 1 s.d. increase in job strain	OR (95% CI), 1.22 (1.06–1.41)
				Weight gain among those with bottom quartile of BMI at baseline		Per 1 s.d. increase in job strain	OR (95% CI), 0.88 (0.76–1.01)
				Weight loss among those with highest quartile of BMI at baseline		Per 1 s.d. increase in job strain	OR (95% CI), 0.82 (0.71–0.94)
				Weight loss among those with bottom quartile of BMI at baseline		Per 1 s.d. increase in job strain	OR (95% CI), 1.14 (0.99–1.32)
(28)	25.6 years cohort	545 men and 267 women	Work demands and job control Q	Mean BMI	Sex, age, and baseline BMI	Low vs high job strain	P=0.151
A cohort of employees from factories in Finland			Q on effort–reward imbalance			Low vs high effort–reward imbalance	P=0.002
(33)	4–7 years cohort	2511 men and 443 women	Job satisfaction measured by the Reeder Stress Inventory Q	Change in BMI	Age and occupational factors	Association between job satisfaction and change in BMI: dissatisfied with job at both baseline and follow-up	Regressions coefficient (95% CI)
A cohort of employees from workplaces in Scotland							Men: −0.44 (−0.89 to 0.00)
							Women: 1.35 (−0.34 to 3.01)
(24)	15 years cohort	2152 men and 2721 women	Study specific Q on stress of daily activities	Weight gain >10 kg	Age, BMI, education, dieting, alcohol consumption, and smoking pregnancy	High level of stress vs low level of stress	Men, 18–29 years: OR (95% CI), 1.06 (0.56–2.03)
							Women, 18–29 years: OR (95% CI), 1.13 (0.63–2.04)
							Men, 30–54 years: OR (95% CI), 2.77 (1.06–7.26)
							Women, 30–54 years: OR (95% CI), 1.35 (0.68–2.66)
(23)A cohort of firefighters, paramedics and fire service administrator	7 years cohort	438 men	Self-reported stress level	Weight gain	No adjustments	Self-reported stress level	Men: correlation between self-reported stress level at baseline and weight change, NS
A cohort of firefighters, paramedics and fire service administrator