Association of Perceived Psychosocial Stress with Metabolic Syndrome among Young Adults in Urban Workforce

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to ascertain Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) among young employees in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry and to determine its association with perceived psychosocial stress through a cross-sectional study. MetS was diagnosed using Adult Treatment Panel III (ATPIII 2001) and International Diabetes Federation (IDF 2005) criteria among 415 calling level BPO employees (274 males; 141 females) in National Capital Region, India. Perceived psychosocial stress was assessed using perceived stress scale focussing on four aspects - stress at work, stress at home, financial stress and major stressful life events in past one year along with additional questions on perceived state of depression. The results showed that MetS was present among 11.8% employees according to ATPIII criteria (14.6% males;6.4% females) and 18.3% according to IDF criteria (22.3% males;10.6% females); and was significantly higher in males compared to females (ATPIII:p=0.014; IDF:p=0.004). Psychosocial stress was perceived among higher proportion of female employees as compared to male employees; however, these differences were not significant. MetS among employees was significantly associated with self-perceived depression for past 12 months (ATPIII:p=0.010; IDF:p=0.029) and past 2 weeks (ATPIII:p=0.011; IDF:p=0.012). It was concluded that with nearly 1/5th of the young employees having MetS and self-perceived depression, it becomes imperative to make feasible changes in their lifestyle by introducing stress management techniques, which can prove helpful in preventing development of non-communicable diseases in the future.