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Background: Poor health in passenger rail drivers, resulting from perceived highly sedentary work and leisure time, has implications for public safety. To date, no studies have described the physical behaviors of passenger rail drivers. This study aimed to characterize the physical behaviors of passenger rail drivers by investigating the volume, pattern, variation, and composition of behaviors at and outside of work. Methods: A convenience sample of 31 rail drivers (77% male, median age 51.0 [12.5] y) in South Australia wore an activity monitor on their right thigh for 8 days and completed a work logbook. Physical behaviors (sitting, standing, light-intensity physical activity, moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity [MVPA], and steps) were recorded for workdays and nonworkdays, and work and nonwork time on workdays. The volume, bouts, between-participants variation, and 3-way composition were compared across the 4 time periods. Results: Drivers sat for 10.6 (1.5) hours, did 76.3 (38.8) minutes of MVPA, and took 9727.3 (4088.4) steps daily. At work, drivers were sitting 369.3 (41.8) minutes (187.1 [54.2] min in prolonged bouts) and doing MVPA 31.7 (10.0) minutes. Between-participants variation in sitting time during work (11%) was lower than both nonwork on a workday (19%) and on a nonworkday (24%; P <.001). Compositions at work differed from nonwork on workdays (F = 27.7, P <.001), as did compositions on workdays compared with nonworkdays (F = 6.8, P =.002). Conclusions: Passenger rail drivers were highly sedentary, but also surprisingly active. At work, drivers were more sedentary and had lower variation in behaviors, suggesting work constraints play an important role. Therefore, work may be the most appropriate domain to intervene for promoting healthy physical behavior profiles among these passenger rail drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundThere are theoretical grounds to suspect that heavy lifting at work is an important risk factor for ischemic heart disease (IHD). However the relationship has not been sufficiently acknowledged by empirical studies. Positive and statistically significant associations have been found in studies that utilize self-reported exposure data. Such studies are, however, prone to reporting bias. All else equal, people with a poor cardiovascular fitness/health may have a higher propensity to perceive their work environment as heavy. ObjectiveThe study described in the present protocol aims to investigate the relationship between heavy lifting at work and IHD by use of material and methods that are free from reporting bias. MethodsThis is a register-based prospective cohort study. Male blue-collar workers in Denmark will be identified and followed through national registers, from 2001-2010, for hospital treatment or death due to IHD. Relative rates of IHD between “workers in occupations likely to involve heavy lifting” and “other blue-collar workers” will be estimated through Poisson regression. ResultsResults are expected to be ready in mid-2015. ConclusionsSince this is not a randomized study, it cannot confirm etiological hypotheses. It may, however, confirm that employment in occupations that involve heavy lifting is a predictor for IHD and thereby lend support to the hypothesis of a causal relationship.

Research funders and policymakers increasingly focus on societal benefits of their investments in research. Research institutions thus face increasing pressure to demonstrate their societal impact to prove their legitimacy and worth. To this end, research institutions need reliable, quantitative methods to measure societal impact. This article describes the development and test of an instrument to quantitatively measure societal impact of applied research at research institution and program levels. It demonstrates the successful validation of the instrument in the multi-disciplinary field of occupational health and safety. The instrument, the "Societal Impact Instrument: Occupational Health and Safety Research" (SII:OHSR), produces an aggregate measure of societal impact for the research institution as a whole and subscales for each research program. The SII:OHSR instrument is built on a process model of knowledge translation and exchange. It has been developed in the context of multi-disciplinary occupational health and safety research. The instrument is constructed as a generalized and context-independent tool that can be relocated to other research domains and languages. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first singular instrument that quantitatively measures societal impact. It is therefore highly pertinent for the research evaluation field.

OBJECTIVE:High levels of occupational physical activity (OPA) increase heart rate, blood pressure (BP) and the risk of hypertension. Older workers may be more vulnerable to high levels of OPA due to age-related degeneration of the cardiovascular system and cardiorespiratory fitness. This study investigates the association of relative aerobic workload (RAW) with resting BP and examines if this relation is moderated by age. DESIGN:Cross-sectional epidemiological study. SETTING:Data were collected among employees of 15 Danish companies in the cleaning, manufacturing and transport sectors. PARTICIPANTS:2107 employees were invited for participation, of these 1087 accepted and 562 (42% female and 4% non-Westerns) were included in the analysis based on the criteria of being non-pregnant, no allergy to bandages, sufficient amount of heart rate data corresponding to ≥4 work hours per workday or 75% of average work hours, and no missing outcome and confounder values. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES:The primary outcome measure was BP. RESULTS:Heart rate reserve was estimated from ambulatory 24-hour heart rate measures covering 2.5 workdays per participant (SD 1.0 day). Age significantly moderated the association between RAW and BP. Mean intensity and duration of high RAW (≥30% heart rate reserve) showed positive associations with diastolic BP and negative associations with pulse pressure (PP) among participants ≥47 years old. Tendencies towards negative associations between RAW and BP were seen among participants

Excessive sitting and standing are proposed risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), possibly due to autonomic imbalance. This study examines the association of objectively measured sitting and standing with nocturnal autonomic cardiac modulation. The cross-sectional study examined 490 blue-collar workers in three Danish occupational sectors. Sitting and standing during work and leisure were assessed during 1⁻5 days using accelerometers. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) were obtained during nocturnal sleep as markers of resting autonomic modulation. The associations of sitting and standing still (h/day) with HR and HRV were assessed with linear regression models, adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, smoking, and physical activity. More sitting time during leisure was associated with elevated HR (p = 0.02), and showed a trend towards reduced HRV. More standing time at work was associated with lower HR (p = 0.02), and with increased parasympathetic indices of HRV (root mean squared successive differences of R-R intervals p = 0.05; high-frequency power p = 0.07). These findings, while cross-sectional and restricted to blue-collar workers, suggest that sitting at leisure is detrimental to autonomic cardiac modulation, but standing at work is beneficial. However, the small effect size is likely insufficient to mitigate the previously shown detrimental effects of prolonged standing on CVD.

Background: Workers in home care have high sick leave rates, predominantly because of musculoskeletal pain. The Goldilocks Work Principle proposes that health should be promoted by a "just right" composition of work tasks. Weekly workloads differ substantially between home care workers, suggesting that certain workers may have workloads that are too high, impacting their musculoskeletal health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a "GoldiCare" intervention redistributing weekly workloads to become more equal among the homecare workers. Outcomes were pain in the neck/shoulder and lower back, and the implementation of the intervention was also evaluated. Methods: A 16-week cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted with 125 workers from 11 home care units, divided into six intervention units and five control units. The operation coordinators of each intervention unit were educated in the Goldilocks Work Principle and provided with a planning tool to facilitate an even distribution of high care need clients. The control group continued their usual work. Primary outcomes were pain intensity in the neck/shoulder and lower back (0 to 10). Secondary outcomes included fatigue (0 to 10), composition of physical behaviors and postures (accelerometers), adherence to the intervention (weekly usage rates of the planning tool), and performance of the intervention (percentage of workers with an even distribution of workload). Results: The analysis showed no difference between the intervention and control groups in change in lower back pain (0.07, 95%CI[-0.29;0.43]), neck/shoulder pain (-0.06, 95%CI[-0.49;0.36]) or fatigue (0.04, 95%CI[-0.52;0.61]. No significant changes were observed in the composition of physical behaviors (p = 0.067) or postures (p = 0.080–0.131) between the two groups. The intervention was succesfully implemented in three units of the six, with adherence ranging from 82–100% across the intervention period. The remaining three units had an adherence of 0–47%. No improvement in performance was observed. Conclusion: No significant intervention effects were observed on musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, or the composition of physical behaviors and postures. The findings suggest that the intervention was not adequately implemented within the organization. Consequently, we cannot discern whether the lack of positive results were due to poor implementation or an ineffective intervention. Results thus highlight the need for a more comprehensive understanding of organizational structures within home care to facilitate more effective implementations. The hypothetical effectiveness of a fully implemented intervention remains unknown. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov ID: NCT05487027, submitted: 03/08/2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity (VILPA) are bursts of incidental vigorous activity that occur during day-to-day activities outside of the exercise-domain. Vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity has shown promise in lowering risk of mortality and chronic disease. However, there is an absence of an empirically derived definition. Using physiological and effort-based metrics commonly used to define vigorous intensity, we investigated the minimum time needed to elicit physiological and perceived exertion responses to standardized activities of daily living. Methods: Seventy adults (age = 58.0 ± 9.6 yr; 35 female) completed 9 VILPA activities of daily living in a randomized order, which included fast walking, fast incline walking, stair climbing, stationary cycling, and carrying external weight equal to 5% and 10% of body weight. Metabolic rate (by continuous indirect calorimetry), heart rate (telemetry) and perceived effort (Borg Scale) were measured during exercise. Time to reach VILPA was assessed using %V̇O2max, %HRmax, and rating of perceived exertion thresholds. Results: The mean time to elicit VILPA ranged from 65 to 95 s (mean ± sd = 76.7 ± 3.8 s) for %V̇O2max, 68 to 105 s (mean ± sd = 82.8 ± 6.8 s) for %HRmax, and 20 to 60 s (mean ± sd = 44.6 ± 6.7 s) for rating of perceived exertion. For each of the three indices, there was no difference in the time to elicit VILPA responses by sex or age (P > 0.08), and times were also consistent between activities of daily living tasks. For example, for females and males, the average time to elicit vigorous responses while walking on a flat surface was 85.8 s (±16.9 s) and 80 s (±13.9 s), respectively, and for stair climbing while carrying 10% of body weight the duration was 78.4 s (±17.6 s) and 76.9 (±17.7 s). Conclusions: When participants undertook activities of daily living, VILPA elicited a physiological response at an average of 77 to 83 s for %V̇O2max and %HRmax, and 45 s for perceived exertion. The absence of a difference in the time to reach VILPA between sex and age suggests that a consistent behavioral VILPA translation can be used in interventions and population-based studies designed to assess the health effects of incidental physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveHigh occupational physical activity (OPA) increases cardiovascular risk and aerobic exercise has been recommended for reducing this risk. This paper investigates the effects of an aerobic exercise intervention on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) among cleaners with high OPA.MethodsHundred and sixteen cleaners between 18 and 65 years were randomized. During the 4-month intervention period, the aerobic exercise group (AE) (n = 57) performed worksite aerobic exercise (2 × 30 minutes/week), while the reference group (REF) (n = 59) attended lectures. Between-group differences in 4-month ABP changes were evaluated by intention-to-treat analysis using a repeated-measure 2 × 2 multiadjusted mixed-models design.ResultsRelative to REF, 24-hour ABP significantly increased in AE: systolic 3.6 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6-5.7) and diastolic 2.3 mm Hg (95% CI 0.9-3.8). Cleaners with high aerobic workload exhibited particularly high 24-hour ABP increases: systolic 6.0 mm Hg (95% CI 2.4-9.6), and diastolic 3.8 mm Hg (95% CI 1.3-6.4).ConclusionAerobic exercise increased 24-hour ABP among cleaners. This adverse effect raises questions about the safety and intended benefits of aerobic exercise, especially among workers with high OPA and a demanding aerobic workload. http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN86682076. Unique identifier ISRCTN86682076.Clinical trial registrationTrial Number ISRCTN86682076.

The clear public messaging from international health authorities is that individuals should "sit less and move more." While it is acknowledged that this guidance needs to be tailored to the age of people and also to their health, and abilities, the guidance is not tailored to their current level of physical behaviors. This opinion piece aims to highlight that although people with excessive sitting and insufficient moderate-to-vigorous physical activity should sit more and move less, for other people their health would be promoted by sitting more and moving less. Thus, physical behaviors are not always "poison" or "medicine," but rather the health impact of changes in physical behaviors depends on people's initial levels. Policy, research, and practice implications of this realization are presented. Only tailoring messaging to age and health status could be far from optimal for people with very different current levels of physical behaviors. Policy, research, and practice will be enhanced when the potential for physical behaviors to be either health hindering or health promoting is adequately considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]