International Journal of Epidemiology 2000;29:785-792
© International Epidemiological Association 2000
Lifestyle risk factors for cancer: the relationship with psychosocial work environment
a National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
b MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, UK.
c Department of Psychiatry, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Reprint requests to: AJM van Loon, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands. E-mail: jeanne.van.loon{at}rivm.nl
Background Psychosocial work characteristics (job demands, control, support, job strain and iso-strain [high job strain combined with social isolation at work]) may be linked to cancer risk, by affecting cancer-related lifestyles like smoking, high alcohol consumption, low intake of fruits and vegetables and lack of physical activity.
Methods Cross-sectional data obtained from 3309 respondents participating in an ongoing prospective cohort study in the Netherlands on psychosocial factors and cancer risk were used to study the association between psychosocial job characteristics and lifestyle. Information on job characteristics and risk factor prevalence was collected from 20–65-year-old men and women, through self-administered questionnaires. Multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were undertaken by gender, with adjustment for age and education.
Results No differences in the prevalence of lifestyle risk factors for cancer were found amongst the psychosocial work characteristics studied. Moreover, little evidence was found for a relation between job (or iso-) strain and cancer-related lifestyles in multivariate analyses.
Conclusions The present study found no support for the hypothesis that job strain or iso-strain are associated with a cancer-related lifestyle. Further research on the role of other psychosocial factors—like personality or social support outside work—in mediating associations between job characteristics and lifestyle, is warranted.
Keywords Job stress, demand-control theory, smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity
Accepted 26 January 2000
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