ArticleBMJ open2012
The possible absence of a healthy-worker effect: a cross-sectional survey among educated Japanese women.
Article in BMJ open, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mortality benefit of participation in BOOCS program: a follow-up study for 15 years in a Japanese working population.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2015Trial
- Sex Differences in Characteristics and Outcomes Among Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Insights From the REVEAL-HCM Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Observational
- Sociodemographic and occupational risk factors for premenstrual mood disorders among female workers.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Uncertainties of Economic Policy and Government Management Stability Played Important Roles in Increasing Suicides in Japan from 2009 to 2023.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Healthy worker hire and survivor effects in a cohort of medical radiation workers.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Impacts of Working Hours, Wages, and Regular Employment Opportunity on Suicide Mortalities of Employed and Unemployed Individuals before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Socioeconomic status and sleep health: a narrative synthesis of 3 decades of empirical research.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2023Review
- Associations between Workers' Health and Working Conditions: Would the Physical and Mental Health of Nonregular Employees Improve If Their Income Was Adjusted?Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Association of Hours of Paid Work with Dietary Intake and Quality in Japanese Married Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Valuation of health losses of women with multiple roles using a well-being valuation approach: Evidence from Japan.PloS one · 2021Article
- Factors affecting workforce participation and healthy worker biases in U.S. women and men.Annals of epidemiology · 2017Article
- Factors associated with employment status before and during pregnancy: Implications for studies of pregnancy outcomes.American journal of industrial medicine · 2017Article
- Relationship between menstruation status and work conditions in Japan.BioPsychoSocial medicine · 2017Article
- Female non-regular workers in Japan: their current status and health.Industrial health · 2016Article
- Healthy Worker Effect Phenomenon: Revisited with Emphasis on Statistical Methods - A Review.Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicineReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDespite being highly educated in comparison with women in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Japanese women are expected to assume traditional gender roles, and many dedicate themselves to full-time housewifery. Women working outside the home do so under poor conditions, and their health may not be better than that of housewives. This study compared the self-rated health status and health behaviours of housewives and working women in Japan.
designCross-sectional survey.
settingA national university in Tokyo with 9864 alumnae.
participantsA total 1344 women who graduated since 1985 and completed questionnaires in an anonymous mail-based survey. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Health anxiety and satisfaction, receipt of health check-ups, eating breakfast, smoking, and sleep problems according to job status and family demands: housewives (n=247) and working women with (n=624) and without (n=436) family demands. ORs were used for risk assessment, with housewives as a reference.
resultsAfter adjustment for satisfaction with present employment status and other confounding factors, working women were more likely than housewives to feel health anxiety (with family demands, OR: 1.68, 95% CI1.10 to 2.57; without family demands, OR: 3.57, 95% CI 2.19 to 4.50) and health dissatisfaction (without family demands, OR: 3.50, 95% CI 2.35 to 5.21); they were also more likely than housewives to eat an insufficient breakfast (with family demands, OR: 1.91, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.00; without family demands, OR: 4.02, 95% CI 2.47 to 6.57) and to have sleep problems (ORs: 2.08 to 4.03).
conclusionsNo healthy-worker effect was found among Japanese women. Housewives, at least those who are well educated, appear to have better health status and health-related behaviours than do working women with the same level of education.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.