Objectives Reports about medical consequences from sedentary work are contradictory. They may be associated with the metabolic syndrome, a collection of cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and central obesity. No data are currently available on workers using visual display units (VDU), a potential high-risk group, given the sedentariness inherent in this work.

Methods The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was evaluated among 1547 VDU users with a mean age of 29.7 years and among a control group of 892 persons with a mean age of 30.2 years who performed nonsedentary work, selected on the basis of similar demographic data. A physical examination and laboratory tests useful for the diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome were performed.

Results The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 3.10% for the VDU users versus 2.01% for the controls [odds ratio (OR) 2.048, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.169–3.587, P=0.012). Significance persisted after control for confounding factors (eg, smoking and leisure-time activity) in a multivariate analysis (OR 1.555, 95% CI 1.03– 2.690, P<0.05).

Conclusions The metabolic syndrome should be carefully considered when health surveillance programs for VDU users are implemented.

Key terms call-center; call-center operator; central obesity; dyslipidemia; hypertension; insulin resistance; job task; metabolic syndrome; obesity; occupational health; operator; sedentariness; video display unit