Job strain and supervisor support in primary care health centres and glycaemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This study investigates associations between healthcare personnel's perceived job strain, supervisor support and the outcome of care in terms of glycaemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes.

Design: A cross-sectional study from 2006.

Setting: 18 primary care health centres (HCs) from five municipalities in Finland.

Trait anxiety levels before and after antidepressant treatment: a 3-wave cohort study.

The aim of this study was to examine change in "trait anxiety" levels assessed repeatedly before and after antidepressant treatment in a large cohort of men and women. A total of 18,732 participants of the Finnish Public Sector Study with no initial record of depression or self-reported doctor diagnosis of depression completed the short form of the Spielberger Trait-Anxiety Inventory in 2000-2002 (T1), 2004-2005 (T2), and 2008-2009 (T3). We used prescription data from the nationwide Drug Prescription Register to identify antidepressant treatment between T1 and T2 (n = 710).

Socioeconomic characteristics of residential areas and risk of death: is variation in spatial units for analysis a source of heterogeneity in observed associations?

Objectives: Evidence on the association between the adverse socioeconomic characteristics of residential area and mortality is mixed. We examined whether the choice of spatial unit is critical in detecting this association.

Design: Register-linkage study.

Proximity of off-premise alcohol outlets and heavy alcohol consumption: a cohort study.

Background: Availability of alcohol has been associated with alcohol consumption in cross-sectional studies. We examined longitudinally whether change in proximity to off-premise (i.e.

Proximity to a tobacco store and smoking cessation: a cohort study.

Background: It is not clear whether the availability of tobacco affects the likelihood of smoking cessation. We examined whether the proximity to a tobacco store and the number of stores were associated with smoking cessation, and compared results for proximity variables based on walking and straight-line (as the crow flies) distance.

Methods: The study population consisted of 8751 baseline smokers from the Finnish Public Sector study in 1997-2005.

Work stress and risk of cancer: meta-analysis of 5700 incident cancer events in 116,000 European men and women.

Objective: To investigate whether work related stress, measured and defined as job strain, is associated with the overall risk of cancer and the risk of colorectal, lung, breast, or prostate cancers.

Design: Meta-analysis of pooled prospective individual participant data from 12 European cohort studies including 116,056 men and women aged 17-70 who were free from cancer at study baseline and were followed-up for a median of 12 years. Work stress was measured and defined as job strain, which was self reported at baseline.

Optimism and pessimism as predictors of initiating and ending an antidepressant medication treatment.

Background: The personality variables optimism and pessimism are potential risk factors for disorders commonly treated with antidepressants.

Aims: To evaluate optimism and pessimism as predictors of initiating and ending an antidepressant treatment.

Methods: Data consisted of 29,930 public sector employees with no record of diagnosed depression.

Study protocol for examining job strain as a risk factor for severe unipolar depression in an individual participant meta-analysis of 14 European cohorts.

Background: Previous studies have shown that gainfully employed individuals with high work demands and low control at work (denoted "job strain") are at increased risk of common mental disorders, including depression. Most existing studies have, however, measured depression using self-rated symptom scales that do not necessarily correspond to clinically diagnosed depression. In addition, a meta-analysis from 2008 indicated publication bias in the field.

Do obesity and sleep problems cluster in the workplace? A multivariate, multilevel study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the co-occurrence of obesity and sleep problems among employees and workplaces.

Methods: We obtained data from 39 873 men and women working in 3040 workplaces in 2000-2002 (the Finnish Public Sector Study). Individual- and workplace-level characteristics were considered as correlates of obesity and sleep problems, which were modelled simultaneously using a multivariate, multilevel approach.

Job strain as a risk factor for leisure-time physical inactivity: an individual-participant meta-analysis of up to 170,000 men and women: the IPD-Work Consortium.

Unfavorable work characteristics, such as low job control and too high or too low job demands, have been suggested to increase the likelihood of physical inactivity during leisure time, but this has not been verified in large-scale studies. The authors combined individual-level data from 14 European cohort studies (baseline years from 1985-1988 to 2006-2008) to examine the association between unfavorable work characteristics and leisure-time physical inactivity in a total of 170,162 employees (50% women; mean age, 43.5 years).

Trajectories of sleep complaints from early midlife to old age: longitudinal modeling study.

Study Objectives: To estimate trajectories of sleep lost over worry as a function of age, using longitudinal modeling, and compare these trajectories with those for insomnia symptoms.

Design And Setting: Data from two prospective, occupational cohorts (the Whitehall II and Finnish Public Sector studies) comprising 84,384 observations from four to eight repeat measurements in 1985-2010.

Participants: There were 16,408 men and women age 34-79 yr.

Chronic workplace stress and insufficient physical activity: a cohort study.

Objectives: To examine whether exposure to workplace stressors predicts changes in physical activity and the risk of insufficient physical activity.

Methods: Prospective data from the Finnish Public Sector Study. Repeated exposure to low job control, high job demands, low effort, low rewards and compositions of these (job strain and effort-reward imbalance) were assessed at Time 1 (2000-2002) and Time 2 (2004).

Job strain as a risk factor for coronary heart disease: a collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data.

Background: Published work assessing psychosocial stress (job strain) as a risk factor for coronary heart disease is inconsistent and subject to publication bias and reverse causation bias. We analysed the relation between job strain and coronary heart disease with a meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies.

Methods: We used individual records from 13 European cohort studies (1985-2006) of men and women without coronary heart disease who were employed at time of baseline assessment.

School environment as predictor of teacher sick leave: data-linked prospective cohort study.

Background: Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and psychosocial problems are common in schools worldwide, yet longitudinal research on the issue is scarce. We examined whether the level of or a change in pupil-reported school environment (IAQ, school satisfaction, and bullying) predicts recorded sick leaves among teachers.

Methods: Changes in the school environment were assessed using pupil surveys at two time points (2001/02 and 2004/05) in 92 secondary schools in Finland.

Living in proximity of a bar and risky alcohol behaviours: a longitudinal study.

Aims: We examined whether distance from home to the nearest bar, i.e. alcohol outlet permitting consumption on the premises, is associated with risky alcohol behaviours.

Associations between nighttime traffic noise and sleep: the Finnish public sector study.

Background: Associations between traffic noise and sleep problems have been detected in experimental studies, but population-level evidence is scarce.

Objectives: We studied the relationship between the levels of nighttime traffic noise and sleep disturbances and identified vulnerable population groups.

Methods: Noise levels of nighttime-outdoor traffic were modeled based on the traffic intensities in the cities of Helsinki and Vantaa, Finland.

Job strain and alcohol intake: a collaborative meta-analysis of individual-participant data from 140,000 men and women.

Background: The relationship between work-related stress and alcohol intake is uncertain. In order to add to the thus far inconsistent evidence from relatively small studies, we conducted individual-participant meta-analyses of the association between work-related stress (operationalised as self-reported job strain) and alcohol intake.

Methodology And Principal Findings: We analysed cross-sectional data from 12 European studies (n = 142 140) and longitudinal data from four studies (n = 48 646).

Job strain and tobacco smoking: an individual-participant data meta-analysis of 166,130 adults in 15 European studies.

Background: Tobacco smoking is a major contributor to the public health burden and healthcare costs worldwide, but the determinants of smoking behaviours are poorly understood. We conducted a large individual-participant meta-analysis to examine the extent to which work-related stress, operationalised as job strain, is associated with tobacco smoking in working adults.

Methodology And Principal Findings: We analysed cross-sectional data from 15 European studies comprising 166,130 participants.

Organizational justice in primary-care health centers and glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Organizational justice has been put forward as a measure of leadership quality that is associated with better health among employees.

Objectives: We extended that idea to test whether perceived organizational justice among health care providers might be positively associated with glycemic control among their diabetic patients.

Setting: Eighteen primary-care health centers (HCs) in Finland.

Work-related violence, lifestyle, and health among special education teachers working in Finnish basic education.

Background: Studies have reported higher levels of absenteeism due to illness among special education teachers compared to other teachers, but it is not known which factors might contribute to this difference. We examined whether health, health behaviors, and exposure to violence at work differed between special education and general education teachers in Finnish basic education.

Methods: Survey data from 5760 general and special education teachers were analyzed with multilevel logistic models adjusted for individual- and school-level confounding factors.

Association of pupil vandalism, bullying and truancy with teachers' absence due to illness: a multilevel analysis.

The aim of this study was to examine whether vandalism, bullying, and truancy among pupils at school are associated with absence due to illness among teachers. Data on such problem behaviour of 17,033 pupils in 90 schools were linked to absence records of 2364 teachers. Pupil reported vandalism and bullying at the school-level were associated with teachers' short-term (1- to 3-day) absences.

Implementation of workplace-based smoking cessation support activities and smoking cessation among employees: the Finnish Public Sector Study.

Objectives: We investigated the relationship between implementation of workplace smoking cessation support activities and employee smoking cessation.

Methods: In 2 cohort studies, participants were 6179 Finnish public-sector employees who self-reported as smokers at baseline in 2004 (study 1) or 2008 (study 2) and responded to follow-up surveys in 2008 (study 1; n=3298; response rate = 71%) or 2010 (study 2; n=2881; response rate=83%). Supervisors' reports were used to assess workplace smoking cessation support activities.

Job strain and the risk of disability pension due to musculoskeletal disorders, depression or coronary heart disease: a prospective cohort study of 69,842 employees.

Objectives: Observational studies suggest that high job strain is a risk factor for retirement on health grounds, but few studies have analysed specific diagnoses. We examined job strain's association with all-cause and cause-specific disability pensions.

Methods: Survey responses to questions about job strain from 48,598 (response rate, 68%) public sector employees in Finland from 2000 to 2002 were used to determine work unit- and occupation-based scores.

Workplace social capital and risk of chronic and severe hypertension: a cohort study.

Objective: The association between workplace factors and the development of hypertension remains uncertain. We examined the risk of hypertension as a function of workplace social capital, that is, social cohesion, trust and reciprocity in the workplace.

Methods: A total of 11 777 male and 49 145 female employees free of chronic hypertension at baseline in 2000-2004 were followed up for incident hypertension until the end of 2005 (the Finnish Public Sector Study).

Does perceived work ability improve after a multidisciplinary preventive program in a population with no severe medical problems? The Finnish Public Sector Study.

Objectives: This study examines the short- and long-term effects of a multidisciplinary preventive program on perceived work ability in a population with no severe medical problems.

Methods: Altogether 859 public sector employees who participated in the program in 1997-2005 and their 2426 propensity-score-matched controls were studied prospectively. Propensity scores for probability of being granted participation in the program were calculated based on the data on health, health-risk behaviors, and work-related characteristics that were gathered from repeat responses to a survey, national health registers, and employers' records.