Device-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic health and fitness across occupational groups: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background With approximately 8 hours of one’s waking day spent at work, occupational tasks and environments are important influencers on an individual’s physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours. Little research has compared device-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic outcomes between occupational groups. Objective To compare device-measured movement (sedentary time [ST], light intensity physical activity [LPA], moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity [MVPA], and steps) across occupations. The secondary objective was to examine whether cardiometabolic and fitness outcomes differed by occupation. Methods Five bibliographic databases were searched to identify all studies which included working age, employed adults from high-income countries, and reported on device-measured movement within occupations. Risk of bias within and across studies was assessed. Results were synthesized using meta-analyses and narrative syntheses. Results The review includes 132 unique studies with data from 15,619 participants. Working adults spent ~ 60% of their working and waking time engaged in sedentary behaviour; a very small proportion (~ 4%) of the day included MVPA. On average, workers accumulated 8124 steps/day. Office and call center workers’ steps/day were among the lowest, while those of postal delivery workers were highest. Office workers had the greatest ST and the lowest time in LPA both at work and during wakeful time. However, office workers had the greatest minutes sent in MVPA during wakeful hours. Laborers had the lowest ST and spent a significantly greater proportion of their work time in LPA and MVPA. Healthcare and protective services workers had higher levels of LPA at work compared to other occupations. Workers in driving-based occupations tended to have a higher body mass index and blood pressure. Conclusion This review identifies that occupational and wakeful time PA and ST differed between occupations. Future studies are needed to assess whether patterns differ by age and sex, describe leisure-time movement and movement patterns, and the relationship with cardiometabolic health. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42017070448 . Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12966-019-0790-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Lifestyle-associated health risk indicators across a wide range of occupational groups: a cross-sectional analysis in 72 855 workers

“…We are not aware of any other large-scale investigation examining a combination of several health risk indicators in different high-resolution occupational groups. Though, the physical activity patterns at work and in leisure time in the present study are partly similar to previous reports in both major occupational groups and in some sub-major groups (9,10,21). For example, white collar/professional occupations are consistently reported to have a higher amount of leisure time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compare to blue collar workers (4,21), with less differences in leisure time sitting (22,23).…”

“…As these are heterogeneous groups of occupations with a diversity of work situations that could have an effect on health outcomes. For instance, previous reports have indicated variations in overweight, smoking and occupational physical activity between a larger range of occupational groups (9,10,8). Other studies found differences in physical activity but con icting results of cardiorespiratory tness between occupational groups (9,11).…”

Physical activity, sedentary time and sleep and associations with mood states, shift work disorder and absenteeism among nurses: an analysis of the cross-sectional Champlain Nurses’ Study

“…Nurses are the largest occupational group in Canada's health system including 282,300 publicly employed nurse managers and registered nurses (Infometrica Limited, 2017). Although nursing is perceived to be a physically active occupation, nurses have been found to spend more than half their time being sedentary on work days and very few achieve current physical activity guidelines (at least 150 min per week of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) in bouts of 10 min or more) (Shields & Wilkins, 2006;Ratner & Sawatzky, 2009;Tremblay et al, 2011;Reed et al, 2018;Prince et al, 2019). Nurses working rotating shifts rarely obtain optimal amounts of sleep (i.e., at least 7 h) and have greater odds of reporting fair or poor health when compared to nurses who work days only (Shields & Wilkins, 2006;Rogers, 2008;Edward, 2009).…”

Improving Physical Activity and Body Composition in a Medical Workplace Using Brief Goal Setting

“…A recent systematic review found that of 132 unique trials (N¼15,619 participants), on average, workers accumulated 8124 steps per day. 16 One of the primary driving factors in the number of steps per day was the type of work perfomed (eg, postal delivery 16,100 steps vs office workers 6857 steps). To improve physical activityfor staff in our workplace, we conducted a study to determine whether we could improve workplace activity at our medical facility using a wearable activity tracker and combining brief feedback using individualized activity goals.…”