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Table 1 The 37 studies that explored effects of obesity on general job-related outcomes, ordered chronologically

From: Use of various obesity measurement and classification methods in occupational safety and health research: a systematic review of the literature

 

Author, Year, Origin

Study Focus

Study Design

Subjects

Sample size (%OW/OB)

Outcome Variable(s)

Primary Obesity Measure / Other Measure(s)

Significant Obesity Effect

Significant Overweight Effect

Acknowledging Limitations of Obesity Measures

General physical or mental work-related functioning

Lee et al.,2001, Australia [48]

Asbestos exposure

Secondary data analysis

Former Australian mine workers

693 (68%)

Pleural thickening

BMI

+

–

+

Clark et al.,2002, USA [49]

Duty fitness

Cross-sectional

Active firefighters(white)

218 (81%)

EKG, VO2 max, METS

BMI

+

+

+

Poston et al.,2002, USA [50]

Discharge from training

Prospective cohort

Airmen

32,144 (19%)

Discharge status

*BMI

–

+

+

Arbabi et al.,2003, USA [51]

Crash injury patterns

Secondary data analysis

Hospital admits of car crash

189 (57%)

Injury Scale and max AIS score, injury severity

BMI

+

–

+

Bungum et al.,2003, USA [52]

Healthcare costs, absenteeism

Cross-sectional

Permanent employees

506 (74%)

Annual healthcare cost, absent days

BMI

+

NA

–

Moreau et al.,2004, Belgium [53]

Sick leave

Prospective cohort

Belgium workers

20,463 (57%)

Sick leave

BMI / WC

+

+

–

Pronk et al.,2004, USA [54]

Work performance

Cross-sectional

Current active employees

683 (43%)

# of work loss days, job performance, extra effort exerted, interpersonal relationships

BMI

+

–

–

Laitinen et al.,2005, Finland [55]

Working ability

Prospective cohort

Young adults

11,637 (19%)

Perceived work ability

BMI / WHR

+

+

+

Ricci & Chee,2005, USA [56]

Lost productive time

Cross-sectional

Employed adults

7472 (58%)

Self-reported lost productive time in past 2 weeks, lost labor costs

BMI

+

–

+

Arena et al.,2006, USA [57]

Short-term disability

Retrospective cohort

White collar employees

1690 (37%)

Frequency + duration of short term disability

BMI

+

+

–

Cormier & Israel-Assayag,2006, Canada [58]

Inflammatory response

Retrospective + experimental

Pig farmers + general population

14 (57%)

Inflammation biomarkers: C-reactive protein, interleukin 6,soluble adhesion molecules,

BMI / *Girth Size

NA

+

–

Nishitani & Sakakibara,2006, Japan [59]

Job stress

Cross-sectional

Japanese manufacturing workers

208 (32%)

Job characteristics, eating behavior,

BMI

+

NA

–

Wang et al.,2006, USA [60]

Healthcare costs

Cross-sectional

Manufacturing company employee & spouses

35,932 (74%)

Medical and pharmaceutical claims

BMI

+

+

–

Østbye et al.,2007, USA [61]

Compensation claims, costs, lost workdays

Retrospective cohort

Health care and university employees

11,728 (56%)

Workers’ compensation claims, associated costs, and lost workdays

BMI

+

+

–

Charles et al.,2007, USA [62]

Hemato-logic parameters

Cross-sectional

Police officers

104 (78%)

White blood cell and platelet counts

BMI / WC,WHR, hip circumference, abdominal height, waist to height ratio

+

+

–

Finkelstein et al.,2007, USA [63]

Injuries/ treatment costs

Cross-sectional

General population

42,304 (62%)

Medically attended injury rates by mechanism and nature and related treatment costs

BMI

+

+

–

Jans et al.,2007, Netherlands [64]

Absenteeism

Prospective cohort

Employees in industrial, administrative, and service sectors

1284 (40%)

Company-reported absenteeism

BMI

+

–

–

Gates et al.,2008, USA [65]

Presenteeism

Cross-sectional

Manufacturing company employees

341 (78%)

Work Limitations Questionnaire

BMI

+

–

–

Soteriades et al.,2008, USA [66]

Job disability

Prospective cohort

Firefighters

329 (88%)

Job disability

BMI

+

–

+

Claessen et al.,2009, Germany [67]

Work disability

Prospective cohort

Construction workers

16,875 (63%)

# of cases

BMI

+

–

–

Vissers et al.,2009, Belgium [68]

Whole body vibration

Lab-based

Premenopausal women

20 (100%)

Ventilation of oxygen, carbon dioxide, heart rate

*BMI / %BF: skinfold thickness

+

+

+

Bedno et al.,2010, USA [69]

Heat illness/healthcare utilization

Prospective cohort

Active duty US army members

9667 (57%)

Heat illness incidence

weight for height / %BF, BMI

+

–

–

Robroek et al.,2010, Netherlands [70]

Productivity loss /sick leave

Cross-sectional

Workers

10,624 (49%)

Sick leave, self-reported productivity loss

BMI

+

–

–

Vincent et al.,2010, USA [71]

Fear of movement

Cross-sectional

Patients with knee pain diagnoses

278 (73%)

Fear of movement, knee function

*BMI

+ (only morbid obesity)

–

–

Cowan et al.,2011, USA [72]

Training-related overuse injuries

Cross-sectional

Active duty US army members

7323 (47%)

Musculoskeletal injuries incidence and healthcare utilization

Weight for height / %BF, BMI

+

NA

–

Poston et al.,2011, USA [73]

Absenteeism

Cross-sectional

Career firefighters

478 (19%)

Injury, and injury-related absenteeism

BMI / %BF: BIA, WC

+

+

–

Haukka et al.,2012, Finland [74]

Multisite musculoskeletal pain

Prospective cohort

Kitchen workers

385 (46%)

Multisite musculoskeletal pain (3 and above out of 7)

BMI

+

–

–

Caberlon et al.,2013,Brazil [75]

Musculoskeletal pain

Cross-sectional

Obesity treatment patients

95 (100%)

Musculoskeletal symptoms

*BMI

+

NA

–

Gubata et al.,2013, USA [76]

Mental disorders

Prospective cohort

Active duty US army members

11,369 (40%)

Onset of mental disorder

*Circumference taping / BMI, weight-for-height standard, %BF

–

–

–

Jahnke et al.,2013, USA [77]

(Musculoskeletal) injury

Prospective cohort

Firefighters

301 (0%)

Incident injury, MS injury

BMI / %BF: BIA, WC

+

+

–

Kouvonen et al.,2013, UK [78]

Occupational injury

Prospective cohort

Finnish hospital workers

69,515 (0%)

Occupational injury incident

BMI

+

+

–

Lin et al.,2013, USA [79]

Occupational injury

Prospective cohort

Civilian labor force

~ 7000 (50%)

Injury at work

BMI

+

–

+

Roos et al.,2013, Finland [80]

Disability retirement

Prospective cohort

Middle aged employees

6542 (50%)

Pensions register data & questionnaire

BMI

+

NA

–

Van der Starre et al.,2013, Netherlands [81]

Need for recovery

Cross-sectional

Office workers

412 (42%)

Need for recovery after work

BMI

+

–

+

Viester et al.,2013, Netherlands [82]

Musculoskeletal symptoms/recovery

Cross-sectional + longitudinal

Dutch workforce

44,793, 2nd phase: 7909, (43%)

Musculoskeletal symptoms

BMI

+

+/−

+

Gonzales et al.,2014, USA [83]

Cognitive functionality

Lab-based

General population

73 (67%)

Blood oxygen level-dependent response

WC / BMI

+

NA

–

Smith et al.,2014, USA [84]

Mental disorders

Secondary data analysis

Military personnel

15,195 (61%)

Mental health disorders

BMI

+

+

–

  1. For primary obesity measure, * indicates that the study reported mean of obesity measure for obese group. Bolded measure indicates that a cut-off other than the common cut-offs are used and underlined measure indicates that measurement has been based on self-reported data. For study subjects, bolded indicates that only females were included as subjects and underlined shows that males were the only subjects. A bolded study design indicates that obesity status had been considered as continuous variable while underlined bolded indicates that it had been considered both as a continuous and categorical variable