Burnout syndrome and abdominal adiposity among primary health care nursing professionals

ABSTRACT

Background: Accumulation of abdominal adiposity (AA) constitutes a risk factor for heart and coronary diseases and for metabolic complications. Research suggests that stress is related to adipogenesis. The burnout syndrome (BS) is linked to stress due to the chronicity of work stress. The objective of this study is to estimate the association between BS and AA in Primary Health Care (PHC) nursing practitioners. Methods: This is confirmatory cross-sectional study with 189 workers from nine municipalities in Bahia, Brazil. The dependent variable was AA, measured by waist circumference. The independent variable was the BS, diagnosed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Sociodemographic and job characteristics, lifestyle, and human biology were taken as covariates and were evaluated as modifiers or confounders by the homogeneity tests and by comparison with the adjusted Mantel-Haenszel test, respectively. Logistic regression was employed to evaluate the association between BS and AA, adjusted for covariates. The adequacy of the final regression model was evaluated by the model's goodness of fit test and the area under the ROC curve. Results: BS prevalence was 10.6% and AA 54%. The variables age, education, hypertension, diabetes, working time, and high emotional exhaustion were associated with AA. An association was found between BS and AA (1.63 adjusted prevalence ratios; 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.06) even after age and working time adjustment. Conclusion: The results suggest an association between BS and AA in the analyzed professionals. A significant prevalence of burnout and AA is highlighted. (AU)