Association between shift work and obesity among a group of Iranian military personnel in 2016

Background: Nowadays, shift work is a common work schedule. Shift work has been hypothesized as a risk factor for obesity. So, identifying the effective factors on obesity is of great importance. In the present research, we are going to study the effects of shift work on obesity among military personnel in 2016. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 80 man military at southern Iran in June and July 2016. Respondents were divided into two groups based on their working schedule (40 shift work and 40 day work personnel). These two groups were matched in terms of type work. In this study, the participants were selected through simple random sampling. In this research, we controlled the effect of age and work experience on obesity. Finally, data analysis was performed with SPSS software. Results: Total people who participated in this study were 80. The findings revealed that mean body weight and body mass index (BMI) in shift workers were more than day workers. The results also showed that 79.6% of subjects had BMI > 25 in shift work individuals. Furthermore, 83.9% of subjects had BMI < 25 in day work individuals. Finally, Pearson correlation test showed a significant correlation between BMI (r = 0.69) and weight (r = 0.67) with years on shift work, in a way that with increasing duration of shift work, BMI and weight increased. Conclusions: The duration of shift work was positively associated with the prevalence of obesity in military personnel and shall be taken to intervention actions in shift works.