Physical and mental health factors associated with work engagement among Finnish female municipal employees: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: Work engagement is related to mental health, but studies of physical health’s association with work engagement are scarce. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between physical health, psychosocial risk factors and work engagement among Finnish women in municipal work units.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 among 726 female employees from 10 municipal work units of the city of Pori, Finland. Work engagement was assessed with the nine-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. The American Heart Association’s concept of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) was used to define physical health (non-smoking, body mass index Results: Of the study subjects, 25.2% had favourable 5–7 CVH metrics. The sum of CVH metrics, healthy diet and physical activity at goal were positively associated with work engagement. In subjects without psychosocial risk factors (36.7%), work engagement was high and stable. Presence of even one psychosocial risk factor was associated with a lower level of work engagement regardless of the sum of ideal CVH metrics.Conclusions: Both physical and mental health factors have a positive relationship with work engagement, whereas the presence of even one psychosocial risk factor has a negative association regardless of the level of classic cardiovascular risk factors.</p

Self-rated health as an indicator of ideal cardiovascular health among working-aged women

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between self-rated health (SRH) and the American Heart Association's (AHA) concept of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) among female municipal employees. Studies about the association are scarce, even though AHA recommends to use SRH status surveys in clinical practice and research settings of CVH.Design: Cross-sectional study conducted in 2014.Setting: SRH was assessed with a one-item question and the data of seven ideal CVH measurements (nonsmoking, body mass index <25.0 kg/m(2), healthy diet, physical activity at goal, blood pressure <120/80 mmHg, cholesterol <5.18 mmol/l and glucose (HbA1c < 6.0%)) was gathered with a physical examination, laboratory tests, medical history and self-administrated questionnaires.Subjects: A total of 725 female subjects from 10 work units of the city of Pori, Finland.Main outcome measures: SRH and ideal CVH.Results: Of the study subjects, 28.8% reported ill-health (poor/fair SRH). The sum of ideal CVH metrics was positively associated with good SRH driven by favorable health behaviors (nonsmoking, normal body mass index, healthy diet and physical activity). A linear decrease in the prevalence of 0-2 ideal CVH metrics, and a linear increase in 5-7 metrics was associated with better SRH. Nonsmoking and normal weight were the most potent indicators of good SRH in multivariate analysis.Conclusions: Most of the subjects with 0-3 of the seven CVH metrics at ideal level were dissatisfied with their health. Since unhealthy lifestyle factors accumulate mainly to people feeling ill-health, the value of SRH is worth recognizing especially in primary health care

The role of psychosocial risk factors in the burden of headache

Purpose: Psychosocial risk factors are common in headache patients and affect the impact of headache in multiple ways. The aim of our study was to assess how psychosocial risk factors correlate with the headache impact test-6 (HIT-6). To our knowledge this is the first study to evaluate the impact of several psychosocial factors on the HIT-6 score.Patients and methods: Our study population consisted of 469 Finnish female employees reporting headache during the past year. Psychosocial risk factors were assessed using validated, self-administered questionnaires: the generalized anxiety disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) for anxiety, the major depression inventory (MDI) for depressive symptoms, the ENRICHD short social support instrument (ESSI) for social isolation, the cynical distrust scale for hostility and the Bergen burnout indicator (BBI-15) for work stress.Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the HIT-6 scores revealed two factors, one describing psychological and quality of life aspects affected by headache and the other describing severity of pain and functional decline. Internal consistency of the HIT-6 was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.85-0.89). Correlations between the total HIT-6 score and all measured psychosocial risk factors except for hostility were weak, but statistically significant.Conclusion: The HIT-6 questionnaire has good construct validity and it describes reliably and independently the impact of headache without interference of psychosocial factors in general working-aged female population.</p

Vitamin D Deficiency in Children with a Chronic Illness-Seasonal and Age-Related Variations in Serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D Concentrations

Peer reviewe

The role of psychosocial risk factors in the burden of headache

Kirsi Malmberg-Ceder,1,2 Maija Haanp&auml;&auml;,3,4 P&auml;ivi E Korhonen,5 Hannu Kautiainen,6,7 Veera Veromaa,5,8 Seppo Soinila2,91Department of Neurology, Satakunta Central Hospital, Pori, Finland; 2Department of Neurology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; 3Mutual Insurance Company Ilmarinen, Helsinki, Finland; 4Department of Neurosurgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; 5Department of General Practice, Turku University Hospital, Turku University, Turku, Finland; 6Unit of Primary Health Care, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; 7Folkh&auml;lsan Research Centre, Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; 8Central Satakunta Heath Federation of Municipalities, Harjavalta, Finland; 9Division of Clinical Neurosciences/General Neurology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, FinlandPurpose: Psychosocial risk factors are common in headache patients and affect the impact of headache in multiple ways. The aim of our study was to assess how psychosocial risk factors correlate with the headache impact test-6 (HIT-6). To our knowledge this is the first study to evaluate the impact of several psychosocial factors on the HIT-6 score.Patients and methods: Our study population consisted of 469 Finnish female employees reporting headache during the past year. Psychosocial risk factors were assessed using validated, self-administered questionnaires: the generalized anxiety disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) for anxiety, the major depression inventory (MDI) for depressive symptoms, the ENRICHD short social support instrument (ESSI) for social isolation, the cynical distrust scale for hostility and the Bergen burnout indicator (BBI-15) for work stress.Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the HIT-6 scores revealed two factors, one describing psychological and quality of life aspects affected by headache and the other describing severity of pain and functional decline. Internal consistency of the HIT-6 was 0.87 (95%CI: 0.85&ndash;0.89). Correlations between the total HIT-6 score and all measured psychosocial risk factors except for hostility were weak, but statistically significant.Conclusion: The HIT-6 questionnaire has good construct validity and it describes reliably and independently the impact of headache without interference of psychosocial factors in general working-aged female population.Keywords: headache, psychosocial, factor analysis, female employe

Effect of vitamin D supplementation on vitamin D status and bone turnover markers in young adults

Objective: To assess the vitamin D status of healthy young people living in Northern Ireland and the effect of vitamin D supplementation on vitamin D status and bone turnover.Design: Double-blinded randomised controlled intervention study.Setting: University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland.Subjects: In total, 30 apparently healthy students (15 male and 15 female subjects), aged 18&ndash;27 years, were recruited from the university, with 27 completing the intervention.Interventions: Subjects were randomly assigned, to receive either 15 mug (600 IU) vitamin D3 and 1500 mg calcium/day (vitamin D group), or 1500 mg calcium/day (control group) for 8 weeks between January and March. Vitamin D status, bone turnover markers, serum calcium and parathyroid hormone concentrations were measured at baseline and post intervention.Results: At baseline, vitamin D status was low in both the vitamin D group (47.9 (s.d. 16.0)) and the control group (55.5 (s.d. 18.6) nmol/l 25(OH)D). Post intervention vitamin D status was significantly higher in the vitamin D-treated group (86.5 (s.d. 24.5)) compared to the control group (48.3 (s.d. 16.8) nmol/l) (P&lt;0.0001). There was no significant effect of supplementation on bone turnover markers or PTH concentrations.Conclusions: This study suggests that young adults in Northern Ireland do not consume an adequate daily dietary intake of vitamin D to maintain plasma vitamin D concentrations in the wintertime. A daily supplement of 15 mug vitamin D3 significantly increased vitamin D status in these individuals to levels of sufficiency. Achievement of an optimum vitamin D status among young adults may have future positive health implications.<br /