Relationships of occupational and non-occupational physical activity to abdominal obesity: Author Interview

Relationships of occupational and non-occupational physical activity to abdominal obesity

Author Interview : Jeremy Steeves Ph.D., MPH candidate 2012
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
624 N Broadway Baltimore, MD 21205

What are the main findings of the study?

We found that highly active jobs may protect against the risk of
abdominal adiposity (a waist circumference > 88 cm in women and > 102
cm in men), even in the absence of physical activity outside of work.
This study utilized data from the 1999-2006 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey, and assessed the association between
total leisure-time physical activity (leisure-time, transport and
domestic) and occupational activity with abdominal obesity in 3890
working adults.

We found that the total volume of physical activity, both at work and
outside of work, is linked to adiposity. For sedentary employees who
do not engage in physical activity outside of work, the likelihood of
having abdominal obesity may be reduced by about half if they were
employed in an occupation that involved high levels of activity
(cleaning and building service occupations, construction trades, farm
and nursery workers, laborers, waiters and waitresses etc).

Were any of the findings unexpected?

While, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans highlight that
the total volume of physical activity has an impact on health, many
may still believe that the benefits of physical activity are
restricted to “exercisers.”

Despite the reduction of occupations that
require manual labor, our results suggest that some occupations still
provide enough physical activity to reduce the likelihood of abdominal
obesity.

What should clinicians and patients take away from this study?

Everyone should be encouraged to engage in regular physical activity
either through work or play. Habitual physical activity acquired in
any form adds up, and is important for long-term weight management.
Leisure-time, occupational, household activity, and active commuting
all count towards total physical activity and health promotion
(lowering all-cause mortality, lowering cardiovascular mortality,
improving function and enhancing quality of life) .

For individuals who work in sedentary jobs- which is most of us,
myself included- there is an increased emphasis on the need to acquire
physical activity throughout the day, and outside of work in order to
reduce the risk of abdominal adiposity.

What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of your study?

The addition of occupational physical activity into the measurement of
total physical activity is still in its infancy. As both occupational
activity and leisure-time physical activity are inversely related to
abdominal obesity, future research should focus on doing a better job
measuring occupational activity to fully understand the role of
physical activity in disease prevention. This may also provide a more
accurate estimate of the prevalence of Americans meeting the
recommended levels of physical activity.

Reference:

Relationships of occupational and non-occupational physical activity to abdominal obesity.

Steeves JA, Bassett DR Jr, Thompson DL, Fitzhugh EC.