Effects of high occupational physical activity, aging, and exercise on heart rate variability among male workers

Abstract

ObjectivesEffects of aging and leisure time physical activity (LPA) might influence the effect of occupational physical activity (OPA) on risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study was conducted to determine whether OPA affects CVD after controlling the effects of LPA and other risk factors for CVD such as job stress.MethodsParticipants were 131 male Korean manual workers. Tests for heart rate variability (HRV) were conducted for five minutes in the morning at work. We defined OPA as the combined concept of relative heart rate ratio (RHR), evaluated using a heart rate monitor.ResultsWhereas high OPA was not related to any HRV items in the younger age group, high OPA was associated with an increased number of low-value cases among all HRV items in older workers. Exercise had beneficial effects only in the younger group. After controlling for exercise and other risk factors, the odds ratios of the root-mean square of the difference of successive normal R-R intervals (rMSSD) and high frequency band power (HF) among the older age and high OPA group compared with the younger age and low OPA group were 64.0 and 18.5, respectively. Social support and shift work were independent risk factors in HRV.ConclusionsOPA in aging workers increases CVD risks. This study provides support for the need for protection of aging workers from physical work overload, and indicates the need for further study of optimal limits of OPA.

Relationships Between Heart Rate Variability, Occupational Performance, and Fitness for Tactical Personnel: A Systematic Review

“…Time-domain changes were also found in firefighters that reported high job stress. This agrees with another large cohort of manual laborers in Korea and suggests that organizational structures and employee support can have significant changes in the allostatic load of personnel (59). Although the study by Shin et al did not account for physical activity outside the workplace, the study by Kang et al did, and determined that social support was an independent risk factor for adverse HRV changes.…”

Heart rate during work and heart rate variability during the following night: a day-by-day investigation on the physical activity paradox among blue-collar workers

“…The autonomic cardiac activity can also be measured by device-worn HR sensors using HR variability (HRV) analysis. Although some previous studies suggest that higher OPA is related to reduced resting or sleeping HRV (7,12), studies have not addressed the temporal association between daily changes in the relative intensity of OPA and HRV indices at night. Such analysis should aim to be without confounding from individual factors such as age, sex, cardiorespiratory fitness, and could therefore be performed in an analysis of the dayto-day effect on HRV indices at night from the %HRR during work.…”

3rd Symposium on Occupational Safety and Health Proceedings Book

“…HR was included in 11 out of the 19 final articles. Based on current work physiology literature, this can be explained as this variable has shown to be sensitive to changes in physical and mental fatigue (Borg, Hassmén, & Lagerström, 1987;Hankins & Wilson, 1998), as well as sleep and circadian issues (Carney et al, 2014;Kang et al, 2015). Collectively, findings not only suggest the relevance of multivariable approaches that include monitoring of cardiac responses along with validated fatigue indicators (thermal responses and scales of perceived exertion) but also confirm the need of inclusion of other variables such as metabolic equivalents (Lee et al, 2017) and respiratory signals (Boon-Giin et al, 2014;Fu et al, 2016).…”