Purpose: To determine whether weekly hours worked is associated with obesity among employed adults in the United States.
Design: Data from the 2015 to 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for this study. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is a cross-sectional study.
Setting: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics designed to assess the health and nutritional status of citizens in the United States.
Participants: The final study sample size was 2,581.
Measures: The outcome was obesity status (yes/no) and the exposure was the number of hours worked per week (<40, =40, >40 h/wk). Covariates of interest included in the analyses were income, age, education level, race, leisure-time physical activity, and gender.
Analysis: A weighted and adjusted logistic regression model was conducted in order to investigate the association between the number of hours worked at a job per week and obesity status. Descriptive statistics and weighted and adjusted odds ratios were produced with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results: After controlling for the covariates of interest, people working 40 or 40+ hours a week had 1.403 (95% CI: 1.06-1.85) and 1.409 (95% CI: 1.03-1.93) times significantly greater odds of obesity than those who work <40 hours a week, respectively.
Conclusion: Obesity is a complex and multifactorial disease with genetic and environmental interactions, including the number of hours a person works/week as a potential risk factor.
Keywords: 40 hours a week; NHANES; hours worked; number of hours; obesity.