Background: Today, obesity is considered as a health problem that increases the risk of some diseases. Therefore, identifying the effective factors on obesity is of great importance. Shift work is one of the indicators for increased risk of obesity in society and also shift work may cause various health problems for workers in military organizations. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between shift work, and body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) among military personnel in 2016.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 100 male military personnel in Southern Iran in June-July 2016. The participants were divided into two groups based on their working schedule; shift work (50 personnel) and day work (50 personnel). The two groups were similar in terms of type of work. The subjects were selected through ‎simple random sampling. The data collection tools consisted of a tape measure and a digital balance. Data analysis and comparison of BMI and WHR in the two groups were performed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation in SPSS.
Results: The findings revealed that mean body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, BMI, and WHR were higher in shift workers than day workers. The findings of the current study showed that 81.6% of shift workers had a BMI of higher than 25 kg/m2 and 80.3% of shift workers had a WHR of higher than 0.90 m. Moreover, 86.2% of day workers had a BMI of less than 25 kg/m2 and 83.1% of days workers had a WHR of less than 0.90 m. The Pearson correlation coefficient for BMI (r = 0.71) and WHR (r = 0.64) in shift workers were higher than day workers.
Conclusions: The findings of this research showed that shift work increased the risk of overweight and obesity. Increased BMI and WHR are the cause of disease and require intervention measures (job rotation, sports activities, and avoidance of long duration of shift work) among shift workers.
