ArticleInternational archives of occupational and environmental health2017
Overweight and obesity are progressively associated with lower work ability in the general working population: cross-sectional study among 10,000 adults.
Article in International archives of occupational and environmental health, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06768892 (Workplace Weight Control Program), which is not on this map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
Workplace Weight Control Program: Combating Obesity in a Multinational Factory in Egypt.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Obesity, Employment, and Economic Productivity in Europe: A Systematic Literature Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of Minimal Individual or Group Enhancement in an eHealth Program on Mental Health, Health Behavior, and Work Ability in Employees With Obesity: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mental health · 2025Trial
- Low-volume high-intensity interval training improves cardiometabolic health, work ability and well-being in severely obese individuals: a randomized-controlled trial sub-study.Journal of translational medicine · 2020Trial
- Favorable changes in health- and work-related factors and subsequent work ability in midlife and older social and health care employees.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2026Article
- Semaglutide treatment in hypothalamic obesity: Two-Year outcomes on body composition, appetite, and quality of life.Pituitary · 2025Article
- Workability among migrant diabetic workers: An occupational health-clinic-based study, Kuwait.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Adolescent Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Future Work Ability.JAMA network open · 2024Observational
- Occupational stress and body composition of hospital workers: a follow-up study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Evaluation of Community Restaurants Linked to Government Food and Nutrition Safety Programs: A Scope Review.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- What works? A qualitative study of participants experiences of a traditional lifestyle intervention with a work focus.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2022Article
- Obesity and sickness absenteeism among health workers in a private hospital in South Africa.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2022Article
- Changes in Work Ability after Weight-Loss Surgery: Results of a Longitudinal Study of Persons with Morbid Obesity before and after Bariatric Surgery.Obesity facts · 2022Article
- Study on a Bayes evaluation of the working ability of petroleum workers in the Karamay region, Xinjiang, China.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Workability in the Ageing Workforce-A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Influence of asthma and obesity on respiratory symptoms, work ability and lung function: findings from a cross-sectional Norwegian population study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2021Article
- The Importance of Lifestyle Factors for Work Ability among Physical Therapists: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Changes to body mass index, work self-efficacy, health-related quality of life, and work participation in people with obesity after vocational rehabilitation: a prospective observational study.BMC public health · 2021Observational
- Psychosocial Predictors of Work Ability in Morbidly Obese Patients: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study in the Context of Bariatric Surgery.Obesity facts · 2021Article
- Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Factors associated with quality of life and work ability among Finnish municipal employees: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeObesity is associated with many diseases and functional limitations. Workplaces are not always designed to accommodate this challenge. This study investigated the association between body mass index (BMI) and work ability in the general working population.
methodsCurrently employed wage earners (N = 10,427) from the 2010 round of the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study (DWECS) replied to questions about work and health. Cumulative logistic regression analyses controlling for age, gender, physical and psychosocial work factors, lifestyle, and chronic diseases modeled the associations between BMI and work ability.
resultsBMIs above the normal range were progressively associated with lower work ability in relation to the physical demands of the job. Odds ratios for having lower work ability were 1.11 (95% CI 1.01-1.22), 1.17 (95% CI 1.01-1.34), 1.43 (95% CI 1.09-1.88), 1.69 (95% CI 1.10-2.62) for overweight and obesity classes I, II, and III, respectively. In subgroup analyses, the associations between BMI and work ability were more pronounced among individuals with mainly sedentary work than among those with physically active work. BMI was not associated with work ability in relation to the mental demands of the work.
conclusionsBMIs above the normal range are progressively associated with lower work ability in relation to the physical demands of the job, especially among individuals with mainly sedentary work. Ergonomic research on how to optimally design workstations for workers with obesity are needed.
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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.