[Risk factors in overweight: a survey among female hospital personnel]

The purpose of this study was to explore the eventual relationship between the working conditions, and overweight women working in hospitals. The sample comprised 594 women working in hospitals in Lyon; 34% of them were overweight which is 10% above the theoretical weight. The rate of overweight hospital staff increased with the woman's age, the number of children and when the social level decreased. The analysis showed that being overweight was more frequent in women working in cleaning staff (56%) and in nursing auxiliaries (36%) than in nurses and administrative staff (24% and 27% respectively). After taking the above personal risk factors into account, this relationship remained the same. However, the night work and the length of service in hospitals are not found to be risk factors, after adjustment for the personal risk factors and type of work. Considering the women who were not overweight at the time of commencing employment, the relationship between being overweight and the type of working conditions in the hospitals disappeared.