The Prevalence of Abdominal Adiposity among Primary Health Care Physicians in Bahia, Brazil: An Epidemiological Study.

BACKGROUND: Labor activities are demanding for workers and can induce occupational stress. Primary health care (PHC) workers have faced problems that can lead to the development of stress and abdominal obesity. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abdominal adiposity among primary health care physicians in the metropolitan mesoregion of Salvador, Bahia. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted with physicians from the family health units (FHUs) of the metropolitan mesoregion of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The number of FHUs corresponded to 41 teams (52 physicians). Anamnesis was performed and a questionnaire was applied. The clinical examination consisted of measuring waist circumference (WC), blood pressure levels (BP), and body mass index (BMI), as well as examining for acanthosis nigricans. Blood samples were collected for biochemical dosages. The data obtained were analyzed by SPSS version 22.0. RESULTS: The sample included 41 physicians (response rate: 78.8%), of which 18 were women (44.0%). The percentage of overweight participants represented by BMI was 31.7%. The hypertriglyceridemia prevalence was 29.2%. HDL-c was low in 48.7% of the participants. The waist circumference measurement revealed a prevalence of abdominal adiposity of 38.8% (women) and 34.8% (men). CONCLUSIONS: Medical professionals in PHC are more susceptible to having higher abdominal adiposity, especially female physicians.

Association between metabolic syndrome and work: an integrative review of the literature.

The aim of this study was to highlight the association between occupational aspects and the occurrence of metabolic syndrome among various occupational groups. This is an integrative review of the literature that included articles indexed in the following databases: LILACS, SciELO, PubMed, and CINAHL. We evaluated 32 articles, most of which were published in Englishlanguage medical journals and with level 4 scientific evidence. The occupational aspects most commonly reported as associated with metabolic syndrome were occupation, work shift, and occupational stress. Our results indicated that occupational aspects could negatively interfere with workers' health; more robust longitudinal studies should contribute to further uncovering the reported associations.