Accelerometer-Measured Physical Behavior and Cardiorespiratory Fitness as Indicators of Work Ability

Pauliina Husu, Kari Tokola, Henri Vähä-Ypyä, Harri Sievänen and Tommi Vasankari ()
Additional contact information
Pauliina Husu: The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Kaupinpuistonkatu 1, FI-33500 Tampere, Finland
Kari Tokola: The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Kaupinpuistonkatu 1, FI-33500 Tampere, Finland
Henri Vähä-Ypyä: The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Kaupinpuistonkatu 1, FI-33500 Tampere, Finland
Harri Sievänen: The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Kaupinpuistonkatu 1, FI-33500 Tampere, Finland
Tommi Vasankari: The UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Kaupinpuistonkatu 1, FI-33500 Tampere, Finland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Work ability (WA) reflects an individual’s resources, work demands, and related environment. Self-reports have shown that higher physical activity (PA) is associated with better WA. This study investigated associations of accelerometer-measured (24/7) physical behavior and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) with WA. In the FinFit2017-population-based study, the physical behavior of 20–69-year-old working Finns was measured in terms of PA, standing, and sedentariness using validated MAD-APE algorithms based on raw triaxial accelerometer data. During waking hours, the accelerometer was hip-worn, while during the time in bed (TIB), it was worn on the non-dominant wrist. CRF was measured with a 6 min walk test. WA was assessed by four questions excerpted from the Work Ability Index (WAI), called the short WAI (sWAI). Participants ( n = 1668, mean age 46.6, SD = 10.9, 57% women) scored on average 23.3 on the sWAI (range 6–27), with a higher value indicating a better WA. More minutes in standing ( p = 0.001) and in moderate ( p = 0.004) and vigorous PA ( p < 0.001) as well as a higher step number ( p < 0.001) and better CRF ( p < 0.001) were associated with a higher sWAI value. More time spent lying down ( p < 0.001) and in high-movement ( p < 0.001) and total TIB ( p = 0.001) was associated with a lower sWAI. Detailed analysis of 24/7 physical behavior can be utilized in identifying individual-related indicators of WA.

Keywords: physical activity; sedentary behavior; time in bed; accelerometer; 24/7 consecutive days; fitness; work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/7/5414/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/7/5414/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:7:p:5414-:d:1116760

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().