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Background: Mental health disorders are prevalent and costly to workplaces and individuals in Australia. Work-life interference is thought to contribute negatively. The interplay between work-life interference, depressive symptoms and sleep has not been explored to date in population data. The aims of this study were to establish whether sleep duration moderates the relationship between work-life interference and depressive symptoms, and whether this is expressed differentially in male and female respondents. Methods: Data were drawn from the North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS) longitudinal, representative population-based cohort study. Working members of the cohort were invited to participate in a telephone survey about their work conditions, with an 86.7% response rate achieved. Data from 823 respondents were analysed after employing purposeful selection of covariates, using multivariable regression analysis. Results: Sleep duration was found to moderate the relationship between work-life interference and depressive symptoms (F7,815 = 26.60, p < 0.001), and accounted for 19% of the variance observed in depressive symptoms. The strongest effect of work-life interference on depressive symptoms was observed in habitual short sleepers, with the effect weakening as sleep duration increased. The relationship was observed in male and female respondents, but was stronger in females. Conclusions: Supporting and educating workers about the benefits of sleep for managing the relationship between work-life interference and depressive symptoms may offer a novel strategy for improving worker well-being, particularly when negative facets of work-life interference are not easily remedied or 'reduced'. There is a need for education and support strategies around sleep in Australian workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individual-level health outcomes are shaped by environmental risk conditions. Norms figure prominently in socio-behavioural theories yet spatial variations in health-related norms have rarely been investigated as environmental risk conditions. This study assessed: 1) the contributions of local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and dietary behaviour to 10-year change in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), accounting for food resource availability; and 2) whether associations between local descriptive norms and HbA1c were moderated by food resource availability.Methods: HbA1c, representing cardiometabolic risk, was measured three times over 10 years for a population-based biomedical cohort of adults in Adelaide, South Australia. Residential environmental exposures were defined using 1600 m participant-centred road-network buffers. Local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and insufficient fruit intake (proportion of residents with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 [n = 1890] or fruit intake of <2 serves/day [n = 1945], respectively) were aggregated from responses to a separate geocoded population survey. Fast-food and healthful food resource availability (counts) were extracted from a retail database. Separate sets of multilevel models included different predictors, one local descriptive norm and either fast-food or healthful food resource availability, with area-level education and individual-level covariates (age, sex, employment status, education, marital status, and smoking status). Interactions between local descriptive norms and food resource availability were tested.Results: HbA1c concentration rose over time. Local descriptive norms for overweight/obesity and insufficient fruit intake predicted greater rates of increase in HbA1c. Neither fast-food nor healthful food resource availability were associated with change in HbA1c. Greater healthful food resource availability reduced the rate of increase in HbA1c concentration attributed to the overweight/obesity norm.Conclusions: Local descriptive health-related norms, not food resource availability, predicted 10-year change in HbA1c. Null findings for food resource availability may reflect a sufficiency or minimum threshold level of resources such that availability poses no barrier to obtaining healthful or unhealthful foods for this region. However, the influence of local descriptive norms varied according to food resource availability in effects on HbA1c. Local descriptive health-related norms have received little attention thus far but are important influences on individual cardiometabolic risk. Further research is needed to explore how local descriptive norms contribute to chronic disease risk and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence linking OSA with hypertension in population studies is conflicting. We examined longitudinal and cross-sectional associations of previously unrecognized OSA, including OSA occurring in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, with hypertension.Methods: The Men Androgens Inflammation Lifestyle Environment and Stress (MAILES) study is a longitudinal study of community-dwelling men in Adelaide, South Australia. Biomedical assessments at baseline (2002-2006) and follow-up (2007-2010) identified hypertension (systolic ≥ 140 mm Hg and/or diastolic ≥ 90 mm Hg, or medication) and risk factors. In 2010 to 2011, 837 men without a prior diagnosis of OSA underwent full in-home unattended polysomnography of whom 739 recorded ≥ 30 min of REM sleep. Hypertension at follow-up (concomitant with OSA status) was defined as prevalent hypertension. Recent-onset hypertension was defined as hypertension at biomedical follow-up (56 months mean follow-up [range, 48-74]) in men free of hypertension at baseline.Results: Severe REM OSA (apnea hypopnea index ≥30/h) showed independent adjusted associations with prevalent (OR, 2.40, 95% CI, 1.42-4.06), and recent-onset hypertension (2.24 [1.04-4.81]). Significant associations with non-REM AHI were not seen. In men with AHI < 10, REM OSA (apnea hypopnea index) ≥ 20/h was significantly associated with prevalent hypertension (2.67 [1.33-5.38]) and the relationship with recent-onset hypertension was positive but not statistically significant (2.32 [0.79-6.84]). Similar results were seen when analyses were confined to men with non-REM AHI < 10.Conclusions: In men not considered to have OSA (AHI < 10), hypertension was associated with OSA during REM sleep. REM OSA may need consideration as an important clinical entity requiring treatment but further systematic assessment and evidence is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS), which represents a longitudinal study of 4060 adults ages 18 years and above at the time of recruitment. The goal of this study is to provide data to assist in maximising the effectiveness of strategies being used to prevent, detect and manage chronic conditions. It notes that this study formed the basis for the Nutrition, Obesity, Lifestyle & Environment (NOBLE) Study.