Occupational Disparities in Lifestyle Behaviors and Adiposity Levels Among Working Women in Peru: A Pooled Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis of 10 Rounds of a National Health Survey.

Background/

Objectives

Occupation shapes time use, physical demands, stress, and access to health resources, yet it remains an understudied axis of inequality among working women in low- and middle-income countries. This study assessed occupational-group disparities in lifestyle behaviors and adiposity levels among Peruvian working women.

Methods

We conducted a pooled repeated cross-sectional analysis of ten Peruvian DHS/ENDES rounds from 2014-2019 and 2021-2024 among working women aged 18-49 years. The exposure was standardized occupational group, using professional/technical/managerial workers as the reference. Outcomes included five lifestyle behaviors and four adiposity indicators. Crude models estimated descriptive prevalence ratios (PRs) or beta coefficients; secondary adjusted models included age group, survey year, education, wealth, residence, natural region, and marital status.

Results

A total of 40,726 women were included. Agricultural workers showed lower crude prevalences of almost-daily television viewing (PR 0.49; 95% CI 0.47-0.52), current smoking (PR 0.14; 95% CI 0.10-0.19), current alcohol use (PR 0.39; 95% CI 0.36-0.42), and heavy alcohol use (PR 0.17; 95% CI 0.12-0.27); these contrasts attenuated but generally persisted after adjustment. Insufficient fruit and vegetable intake exceeded 87% in all groups. Sales, domestic/household, services, and skilled manual workers had higher adjusted obesity than the reference group, with adjusted PRs ranging from 1.22 to 1.35.

Conclusions

Occupation identifies relevant heterogeneity in lifestyle behaviors and adiposity levels among Peruvian working women. Lifestyle and adiposity profiles did not follow a simple social gradient, supporting occupation-specific strategies for noncommunicable disease prevention.