Night work and risk of common mental disorders : analyzing observational data as a non-randomized pseudo trial

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the status of night work as a risk factor for common mental disorders (CMD). Methods A cohort study with three data waves was conducted on populations of social and healthcare employees for a duration of eight years (total N=46 010). Data were analyzed as a non-randomized pseudo trial to examine (i) whether moving from non-night work to night work is associated with the development of CMD, (ii) the extent to which moving back to non-night work biases this association and (iii) whether moving from night to non-night work is associated with the recovery from CMD. Results According to logistic regression with generalized estimating equation and without bias-correction, changing to night work was not associated with the odds of acquiring CMD [odds ratio (OR) 1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82-1.30]. However, night workers with CMD had higher odds of recovery from CMD when changing to non-night work compared to continuing night work (1.99, 95% CI 1.20-3.28). When night workers developed CMD, the odds of moving back to non-night work increased by 68%. In analyses corrected for this bias, changing from non-night to night work was associated with a 1.25-fold (95% CI 1.03-1.52) increased odds of acquiring CMD. Conclusions A change from non-night to night work may increase the risk of CMD, while moving back from night to non-night work increased recovery from CMD.Peer reviewe

Diet quality in preschool children and associations with individual eating behavior and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage. The STEPS Study

A good quality diet in childhood is important for optimal growth as well as for long-term health. It is not well established how eating behaviors affect overall diet quality in childhood. Moreover, very few studies have considered the association of diet quality and a neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood. Our aim was to investigate how diet quality is associated with eating behaviors and neighborhood disadvantage and their interaction in preschool age children in Finland. The participants were from the Steps to Healthy Development Study at age 2 y (n = 780) and 5 y (n = 653). Diet quality was measured with a short questionnaire on habitual food consumption and eating behavior was assessed with the child eating behavior questionnaire to indicate the child's eating style regarding food approach and food avoidance dimensions. Information on neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage were obtained from the statistics Finland grid database. We found that diet quality was higher at 5 years compared to 2 years of age (p < 0.001). Food approach subscale, enjoyment of food, was positively associated with the diet quality (p < 0.001 for 2 and 5 y) while subscale desire to drink was negatively associated with the diet quality (p = 0.001 for 2 and 5 y). Food avoidance was negatively associated with the diet quality both at 2 and at 5 years of age (p < 0.001). A higher neighborhood disadvantage was negatively associated with the diet quality at the age of 2 years (p = 0.02), but not at the age of 5 years. Eating behavior had similar associations with diet quality both in affluent and deprived neighborhoods. Our results suggest that both the eating behavior and neighborhood disadvantage are, already in the early age, important factors when considering children's diet quality.Peer reviewe

Work Stress and Satisfaction with Leadership Among Nurses Encountering Patient Aggression in Psychiatric Care : A Cross-Sectional Survey Study

We examined the associations between work stress (job strain, effort-reward imbalance), perceived job insecurity, workplace social capital, satisfaction with leadership and working hours in relation to the likelihood of encountering patient aggression (overall exposure, assaults on ward property, mental abuse, physical assaults). We conducted a cross-sectional survey for nurses (N = 923) in 84 psychiatric units. Both work stress indicators were associated higher odds for different types of patient aggression. Poorer satisfaction with leadership was associated with higher odds for overall exposure to patient aggression. These findings were robust to adjustment for several nurse and work characteristics, and unit size.Peer reviewe

Parental feeding practices and child eating behavior in different socioeconomic neighborhoods and their association with childhood weight : The STEPS study

Child obesity risk, child eating behavior and parental feeding practices show a graded association with individual level socioeconomic status. However, their associations with neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage are largely unknown. In this study (n = 682), we investigated how parental feeding practices and child eating behaviors were associated with body mass index and risk of overweight at preschool age in affluent and disadvantaged neighborhoods. We found that high food approach tendency in disadvantaged neighborhoods predicted higher body mass index and increased the risk of overweight at the age of 6 years compared with affluent neighborhoods. Our results suggest that children's eating habits may have stronger impact on overweight risk in disadvantaged than in affluent neighborhoods.Peer reviewe

Job Contract at Birth of the First Child as a Predictor of Women’s Labor Market Attachment: Trajectory Analyses over 11 Years

There is a lot of evidence that pre-birth employment and access to parental leave are important predictors of mothers’ labor market attachment after childbirth. This register-based study from Finland aimed to analyze in which ways the type of job contract (none, temporary, or permanent) at the start of maternity leave predicts labor market attachment in the long term. The mother cohorts were followed up for 11 years. Labor market attachment was analyzed with latent class growth analysis, which makes it possible to identify subgroups with differing track and level of development. Lack of employment and having a temporary contract at baseline were associated with slower and weaker labor market attachment irrespective of mother’s age, socioeconomic status, and subsequent births. These findings suggest that the polarization of women into the core and periphery of the labor market structure tends to continue after the birth of the first child. Temporary employment might be an obstacle for having rights for a job-protected family leave and have long-term consequences on the continuity of employment and the division of paid and unpaid work in the family

Multi-trajectory analysis of changes in physical activity and body mass index in relation to retirement : Finnish Retirement and Aging study

Funding Information: This study was supported by funding granted by the Academy of Finland (321409 and 329240 to JV, 286294, 319246, 294154, 332030 to SS), Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (to SS); Juho Vainio Foundation (to SS), and Hospital District of Southwest Finland (to SS) The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: Copyright: © 2022 Lintuaho et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background Physical activity and body mass index (BMI) have been reported to change around retirement. The objective was to examine the concurrent changes in physical activity and BMI around retirement, which have not been studied before. In addition, the associations of different demographic characteristics with these changes were examined. Methods The prospective cohort study consisted of 3, 351 participants in the ongoing Finnish Retirement and Ageing Study (FIREA). Repeated postal survey, including questions on physical activity and body weight and height, was conducted once a year up to five times before and after the retirement transition, the mean follow-up time being 3.6 years (SD 0.7). Group-based multi-trajectory modeling was used to identify several clusters with dissimilar concurrent changes in physical activity and BMI within the studied cohort. Results Of the participants, 83% were women. The mean age at the last wave before retirement was 63.3 (SD 1.4) years. Four clusters with different trajectories of physical activity and BMI were identified. BMI remained stable around retirement transition in all four clusters, varying from normal weight to class II obesity. The association of BMI trajectories with physical activity levels were inverse, however, each activity trajectory showed a temporary increase during the retirement transition. Conclusions Retirement seems to have more effect on physical activity than BMI, showing a temporary increase in physical activity at the time of retirement.Peer reviewe

Response to letter "Do all hypnotic drugs and sedatives have risk for cancer?"

Non peer reviewe

Psychological Distress During the Retirement Transition and the Role of Psychosocial Working Conditions and Social Living Environment

Objectives: Mental health is determined by social, biological, and cultural factors and is sensitive to life transitions. We examine how psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and cumulative risk factors are associated with mental health changes during the retirement transition. Method: We use data from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study on public sector employees (n = 3,338) retiring between 2014 and 2019 in Finland. Psychological distress was measured with the General Health Questionnaire annually before and after retirement and psychosocial working conditions, social living environment, and accumulation of risk factors at the study wave prior to retirement. Results: Psychological distress decreased during the retirement transition, but the magnitude of the change was dependent on the contexts individuals retire from. Psychological distress was higher among those from poorer psychosocial working conditions (high job demands, low decision authority, job strain), poorer social living environment (low neighborhood social cohesion, small social network), and more cumulative risk factors (work/social/both). During the retirement transition, greatest reductions in psychological distress were observed among those with poorer conditions (work: absolute and relative changes, p [Group x Time interactions] < .05; social living environment and cumulative risk factors: absolute changes, p [Group x Time interactions] < .05). Discussion: Psychosocial work-related stressors lead to quick recovery during the retirement transition but the social and cumulative stressors have longer-term prevailing effects on psychological distress. More studies are urged incorporating exposures across multiple levels or contexts to clarify the determinants of mental health during the retirement transition and more generally at older ages.Peer reviewe

Changes in prolonged sedentary behaviour across the transition to retirement

Background Prolonged sedentary behaviour is associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases. This longitudinal study examined changes in daily total, prolonged (>= 30 min) and highly prolonged (>= 60 min) sedentary time across the transition to retirement by gender and occupational status. Methods We included 689 aging workers (mean (SD) age before retirement 63.2 (1.6) years, 85% women) from the Finnish Retirement and Aging Study (FIREA). Sedentary time was measured annually using a wrist-worn triaxial ActiGraph accelerometer before and after retirement with on average 3.4 (range 2-4) measurement points. Results Women increased daily total sedentary time by 22 min (95% CI 13 to 31), prolonged sedentary time by 34 min (95% CI 27 to 42) and highly prolonged sedentary time by 15 min (95% CI 11 to 20) in the transition to retirement, and remained at the higher level of sedentary time years after retirement. The highest increase in total and prolonged sedentary time was observed among women retiring from manual occupations. Men had more total and prolonged sedentary time compared with women before and after retirement. Although no changes in men's sedentary time were observed during the retirement transition, there was a gradual increase of 33 min (95% CI 6 to 60) in prolonged sedentary time from pre-retirement years to post-retirement years. Conclusion The transition to retirement was accompanied by an abrupt increase in prolonged sedentary time in women but a more gradual increase in men. The retirement transition may be a suitable time period for interventions aiming to decrease sedentary behaviour.Peer reviewe