Psychological workload is associated with weight gain between 1993 and 1999: analyses based on the Danish Nurse Cohort Study

AIMS: To examine associations between psychological workload and subsequent 6-y weight changes.

METHODS: In total, 6704 Danish nurses, aged 45-65 y and employed both in 1993 and 1999, answered questionnaires about psychological workload, including busyness in job, job speed and job influence, and lifestyle, as well as body weight and height at both examinations.

RESULTS: Danish nurses who reported being almost always busy, or never busy, gained significantly more weight (3.1 and 3.5 kg, respectively) than nurses who reported being sometimes busy, who gained 2.5 kg in weight (P=0.04, 0.002). Job speed was not associated with subsequent weight gain. Job influence was inversely associated with subsequent weight changes after 6 y. The mean weight gain for nurses with no job influence was 4.1 kg, whereas those having major job influence had a mean weight gain of 2.6 kg (P=0.002). Nurses who stated they felt almost always busy in their jobs and who had no job influence gained significantly more weight than those who were never busy and those with major influence in their jobs (P=0.007). All results were essentially similar before and after adjustment for confounders for nurses reporting both high and low workload. Nurses whose workload remained stable (for instance, being sometimes busy) both in 1993 and 1999 gained less weight than nurses who changed their workload. Nurses who experienced minor/no influence in job, in both 1993 and in 1999, experienced a greater weight gain as compared to nurses who attained influence in job over the 6-y period.

CONCLUSION: : Psychological workload, particularly both low and high busyness in job and low influence in job, was associated with higher 6-y weight gain among female Danish nurses.