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Occupational physical activity may lead to poor CV outcomes in men
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Men with high levels of occupational physical activity had elevated risk for CHD and CVD events, according to findings published in Heart.
In addition, the cardioprotective effect of recreational physical activity was less prominent in men with high levels of occupational physical activity than in men who were more sedentary at work, researchers reported.
Marco Mario Ferrario, MD, from the department of medicine and surgery at the Research Center in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine of the Insubria University in Varese, Italy, and colleagues analyzed 3,574 employed men aged 25 to 64 years without CVD at baseline from four cohort studies.
The Baecke questionnaire was used to estimate occupational physical activity and recreational physical activity. Participants were stratified into tertiles based on level of occupational physical activity and level of recreational physical activity. The outcomes of interest were CHD and CVD events. Median follow-up was 14 years.
During the study period, 135 first CHD events and 174 first CVD events occurred, the researchers wrote.
After adjustment for age, cohort and educational level, compared with those in the intermediate occupational physical activity tertile, those in the lowest tertile had increased risk for CHD (HR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.06-2.59) and those in the highest tertile had higher but not statistically significant risk (HR = 1.18; 95% CI, 0.72-1.94; P for trend = .07). Similar results were observed for CVD, Ferrario and colleagues wrote.
Compared with those with poor recreational physical activity, those with intermediate or recommended recreational physical activity had a 28% reduction on CHD risk (chi-square test for trend = 0.08), according to the researchers. Similar but stronger results were observed for CVD (HR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.46-0.98; chi-square test for trend = 0.04).
For CHD and CVD, the protective effect of recreational physical activity was found only in the lowest tertile of occupational physical activity (HR for CHD = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.27-0.86; P for interaction = .02; HR for CVD = 0.45; 95% CI. 0.25-0.82; P for interaction = .01). Those with high occupational physical activity and intermediate or recommended recreational physical activity had a trend toward elevated risk for CHD and CVD compared with those who had high occupational physical activity and poor recreational physical activity (HR for CHD = 1.84; 95% CI, 0.88-3.87; HR for CVD = 1.66; 95% CI, 0.87-3.14).
“Our study ... suggests a prominent protective effect of AHA recommended and intermediate sport [physical activity] levels on CVDs among sedentary workers, and an opposite effect in people involved in physically demanding working tasks,” Ferrario and colleagues wrote. “Future CVD prevention guidelines should consider tailoring the recommendations on the amount of [physical activity] during leisure time to the levels of [physical activity] at work.” – by Erik Swain
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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