PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - David Gimeno
AU  - Ádám G Tabák
AU  - Jane E Ferrie
AU  - Martin J Shipley
AU  - Roberto De Vogli
AU  - Marko Elovainio
AU  - Jussi Vahtera
AU  - Michael G Marmot
AU  - Mika Kivimäki
TI  - Justice at work and metabolic syndrome: the Whitehall II study
AID  - 10.1136/oem.2009.047324
DP  - 2010 Apr 01
TA  - Occupational and Environmental Medicine
PG  - 256--262
VI  - 67
IP  - 4
4099  - http://oem.bmj.com/content/67/4/256.short
4100  - http://oem.bmj.com/content/67/4/256.full
SO  - Occup Environ Med2010 Apr 01; 67
AB  - Objectives Growing evidence shows that high levels of justice are beneficial for employee health, although biological mechanisms underlying this association are yet to be clarified. We aim to test whether high justice at work protects against metabolic syndrome.Methods A prospective cohort study of 20 civil service departments in London (the Whitehall II study) including 6123 male and female British civil servants aged 35–55 years without prevalent coronary heart disease at baseline (1985–1990). Perceived justice at work was determined by means of questionnaire on two occasions between 1985 and 1990. Follow-up for metabolic syndrome and its components occurring from 1990 to 2004 was based on clinical assessments on three occasions over more than 18 years.Results Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, ethnicity and employment grade showed that men who experienced a high level of justice at work had a lower risk of incident metabolic syndrome than employees with a low level of justice (HR 0.75; 95% CI 0.63 to 0.89). There was little evidence of an association between organisational justice and metabolic syndrome or its components in women (HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.67 to 1.17).Conclusions Our prospective findings provide evidence of an association between high levels of justice at work and the development of metabolic syndrome in men.