Dataset Information

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with sickness absence and work ability.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Physical activity may sustain the physical aspect of work ability despite health problems such as musculoskeletal disorders and anxiety, which are the most prevalent work-related health problem in Europe.

Aims

To evaluate the association of Finnish municipal workers' accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness with their sickness absence levels, perceived work ability and health-related quality of life.

Methods

In connection with a randomized controlled trial recruiting 185 municipal workers, the authors performed baseline data analysis utilizing quantile regression to examine relationships between the outcome variables (all-cause sickness absence for 6 months, perceived work ability and health-related quality of life) and cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, and physical activity, and sedentary behaviour. All results were adjusted for age, sex and education level.

Results

The median duration of all-cause sickness absence over the preceding 6 months was lowest among participants with high cardiorespiratory fitness relative to the lowest tertile (2.0 versus 6.0 days; P < 0.05), and the highest perceived work ability was found among those with high or moderate cardiorespiratory fitness as compared to the lowest tertile (8.0 versus 7.0; P < 0.001). Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity correlated positively with the physical component of health-related quality of life (P < 0.01) and with a high cardiorespiratory-fitness level (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

High cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with decreased all-cause sickness absence days and improved work ability among municipal workers.

SUBMITTER: Kolu P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9578675 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with sickness absence and work ability.

Kolu P P Raitanen J J Sievänen H H Tokola K K Vähä-Ypyä H H Nieminen E E Vasankari T T

Occupational medicine (Oxford, England) 20221001 7

<h4>Background</h4>Physical activity may sustain the physical aspect of work ability despite health problems such as musculoskeletal disorders and anxiety, which are the most prevalent work-related health problem in Europe.<h4>Aims</h4>To evaluate the association of Finnish municipal workers' accelerometer-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness with their sickness absence levels, perceived work ability and health-related quality of life.<h4>Me ...[more]

PMID: 35960163

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Project description:BackgroundLifestyle factors influence the risk of morbidity and mortality, but the extent to which they are associated with employees' absence from work due to illness is unclear. We examined the relative contributions of smoking, alcohol consumption, high body-mass index, and low physical activity to diagnosis-specific sickness absence.MethodsWe did a multicohort study with individual-level data of participants of four cohorts from the UK, France, and Finland. Participants' responses to a lifestyle survey were linked to records of sickness absence episodes, typically lasting longer than 9 days; for each diagnostic category, the outcome was the total number of sickness absence days per year. We estimated the associations between lifestyle factors and sickness absence by calculating rate ratios for the number of sickness absence days per year and combining cohort-specific estimates with meta-analysis. The criteria for assessing the evidence included the strength of association, consistency across cohorts, robustness to adjustments and multiple testing, and impact assessment by use of population attributable fractions (PAF), with both internal lifestyle factor prevalence estimates and those obtained from European populations (PAFexternal).FindingsFor 74 296 participants, during 446 478 person-years at risk, the most common diagnoses for sickness absence were musculoskeletal diseases (70·9 days per 10 person-years), depressive disorders (26·5 days per 10 person-years), and external causes (such as injuries and poisonings; 12·8 days per 10 person-years). Being overweight (rate ratio [adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and chronic disease at baseline] 1·30, 95% CI 1·21-1·40; PAFexternal 8·9%) and low physical activity (1·23, 1·14-1·34; 7·8%) were associated with absences due to musculoskeletal diseases; heavy episodic drinking (1·90, 1·41-2·56; 15·2%), smoking (1·70, 1·42-2·03; 11·8%), low physical activity (1·67, 1·42-1·96; 19·8%), and obesity (1·38, 1·11-1·71; 5·6%) were associated with absences due to depressive disorders; heavy episodic drinking (1·64, 1·33-2·03; 11·3%), obesity (1·48, 1·27-1·72; 6·6%), smoking (1·35, 1·20-1·53; 6·3%), and being overweight (1·20, 1·08-1·33; 6·2%) were associated with absences due to external causes; obesity (1·82, 1·40-2·36; 11·0%) and smoking (1·60, 1·30-1·98; 10·3%) were associated with absences due to circulatory diseases; low physical activity (1·37, 1·25-1·49; 12·0%) and smoking (1·27, 1·16-1·40; 4·9%) were associated with absences due to respiratory diseases; and obesity (1·67, 1·34-2·07; 9·7%) was associated with absences due to digestive diseases.InterpretationLifestyle factors are associated with sickness absence due to several diseases, but observational data cannot determine the nature of these associations. Future studies should investigate the cost-effectiveness of lifestyle interventions aimed at reducing sickness absence and the use of information on lifestyle for identifying groups at risk.FundingNordForsk, British Medical Research Council, Academy of Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, and Economic and Social Research Council.

Project description:Sickness absence is a socioeconomic global burden. In Brazil, mental disorders are the third leading cause of social security benefits payments. The aim of the present study was to compare factors associated with long-term sickness absence between workers who claimed social benefits due to mental disorders or by other causes. We investigated individual features and occupational characteristics. In addition, we evaluated psychosocial factors at work assessed by the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) and Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) models, and whether they were associated with long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders (LTSA-MD).The present case-control study was conducted in São Paulo, Brazil. The sample (n = 385) included workers on sick leave for more than 15 days. Cases were the participants with disabling psychiatric illnesses, and controls were the ones with other disabling diseases. Interviews were conducted to assess individual features (sociodemographic data, health habits/lifestyle, health conditions) and occupational characteristics. The participants' perception of exposure to dimensions of the DCS and ERI models was also recorded. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the association between independent variables and LTSA-MD.All the regression analyses showed that LTSA-MD was associated with female sex, self-reported white skin color, higher education level, high tobacco consumption, high alcohol intake, two or more comorbidities, exposure to violence at work, high job strain and low social support at work, effort-reward imbalance and high overcommitment to work. LTSA-MD was associated with separate and combined DCS and ERI stress models.Individual features and work conditions were associated with LTSA-MD. Combined analysis of stress models showed that psychosocial factors at work were significantly associated with LTSA-MD. Resourceful use of this information may contribute to the implementation of preventive actions and strategies to facilitate return to work targeting the populations most susceptible to mental disorders.

Dataset Information

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with sickness absence and work ability.

Background

Aims

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with sickness absence and work ability.

Similar Datasets

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