Behavioural characteristics and abdominal obesity among Brazilian shift working women.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between behavioural characteristics with the prevalence of abdominal obesity (AO) among a population of Southern Brazilian shift working women. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted. AO was estimated using waist circumference (WC), and it was used to classify women as having AO (WC ≥ 88 cm). Prevalence ratios were estimated using Poisson regression with robust variance. SETTING: A large plastic utensils company in Southern Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: 450 female shift workers. RESULTS: The prevalence of the AO in the women shift workers was 44·5 % (95 % CI 40·0, 49·2 %). In night shift workers, the prevalence of AO was 56·1 % compared with 40·9 % among hybrid shift workers. After adjustments for covariates, women who were current smokers had a decrease in the prevalence of AO compared with those who never smoked. Women who had three or fewer meals per day had a 46 % increase in the AO prevalence compared with those eating more frequent meals. Night shift work was associated with increase in AO prevalence compared with hybrid shift (PR 1·33; 95 % CI: 1·08, 1·64). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that behavioural characteristics are associated with a high prevalence of AO in female shift workers, thus suggesting that behavioural modifications among women working shifts, such as increase in meal frequency and physical activity, may reduce AO.

Association of adipokines and adhesion molecules with indicators of obesity in women undergoing mammography screening.

BACKGROUND: The soluble cell adhesion molecules and adipokines are elevated in patients with obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast cancer and atherosclerosis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between anthropometric profile, dietary intake, lipid profile and fasting glycemia with serum levels of adipokines (adiponectin and PAI-1) and adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) in women without breast cancer undergoing routine mammographic screening. DESIGN: Transversal study. SUBJECTS: One hundred and forty-five women over 40-years old participated in this study. RESULTS: In 39.3% of cases the BMI was above 30 kg/m2; 46.9% had hypertension, 14.5% had type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, 31.7% had dyslipidemia and 88.3% presented a waist-to-hip ratio ≥ 0.8. A linear correlation was found between serum levels of PAI-1 and triglycerides, between serum levels of PAI-1 and WHR and between serum levels of VCAM-1 and BMI. CONCLUSION: We found a high prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. PAI-1 and VCAM-1 levels were correlated with clinical indicators of obesity and overweight.