Physical Exercise and Health-Related Quality of Life in Office Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Thi Mai Nguyen, Nguyen Van Huy and Jin Hee Kim
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Thi Mai Nguyen: Department of Integrative Bioscience & Biotechnology, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea
Nguyen Van Huy: Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, Federation University, Mount Helen, Ballarat, VIC 3350, Australia
Jin Hee Kim: Department of Integrative Bioscience & Biotechnology, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-27

Abstract: Office workers are at high risk for many chronic diseases, lowering their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize the effects of physical exercise on HRQOL in office workers with and without health problems using data obtained from randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental, and observational studies. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and several grey literature databases, and identified 26 relevant studies for the synthesis. Overall, physical exercise significantly improved general (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 1.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66 to 1.44) and mental (SMD = 0.42; 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.66) HRQOL in office workers. Compared with healthy office workers, unhealthy office workers experienced greater improvements in general (unhealthy, SMD = 2.76; 95% CI: 1.63 to 3.89; healthy, SMD = 0.23; 95% CI: ?0.09 to 0.56) and physical (unhealthy, SMD = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.58; healthy, SMD = ?0.20; 95% CI: ?0.51 to 0.11) HRQOL. Unsupervised physical exercise significantly improved general and mental HRQOL, while directly supervised physical exercise significantly improved only general HRQOL. Although physical exercise, especially unsupervised physical exercise, should be encouraged to improve HRQOL in office workers, detailed recommendations could not be made because of the diverse exercise types with different intensities. Therefore, further studies are needed to determine the optimal exercise for office workers with different health conditions.

Keywords: physical exercise; health-related quality of life; office worker; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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