Recent evidence suggests the existence of a physical activity paradox, with beneficial health outcomes associated with leisure time physical activity, but detrimental health outcomes for those ...engaging in high level occupational physical activity. This is the first quantitative systematic review of evidence regarding the association between occupational physical activity and all-cause mortality.
Systematic review with meta-analysis.
A literature search was performed in electronic databases PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane.
We screened for peer reviewed articles from prospective studies assessing the association of occupational physical activity with all-cause mortality. A meta-analysis assessed the association of high (compared with low) level occupational physical activity with all-cause mortality, estimating pooled hazard ratios (HR) (with 95% CI).
2490 unique articles were screened and 33 (from 26 studies) were included. Data from 17 studies (with 193 696 participants) were used in a meta-analysis, showing that men with high level occupational physical activity had an 18% increased risk of early mortality compared with those engaging in low level occupational physical activity (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.34). No such association was observed among women, for whom instead a tendency for an inverse association was found (HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.01).
The results of this review indicate detrimental health consequences associated with high level occupational physical activity in men, even when adjusting for relevant factors (such as leisure time physical activity). These findings suggest that research and physical activity guidelines may differentiate between occupational and leisure time physical activity.
The aims of the present study were to: 1) gain insight into reasons for working beyond the statutory retirement age from older workers' perspectives, and 2) explore how the domains of the research ...framework Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation (STREAM) can be applied to working beyond retirement age.
A qualitative research design included individual interviews (n = 15) and three focus groups (n = 18 participants) conducted with older workers aged 65 years and older continuing in a paid job or self-employment. Interview participants were recruited from an existing STREAM cohort study. Focus group participants were recruited from companies and employment agencies. The data were subjected to thematic analysis.
The most important motives for working beyond retirement age were maintaining daily routines and financial benefit. Good health and flexible work arrangements were mentioned as important preconditions. The themes emerging from the categorization of the motives and preconditions corresponded to the domains of health, work characteristics, skills and knowledge, and social and financial factors from the STREAM research framework. However, our analysis revealed one additional theme-purpose in life.
This study offers important new insights into the various preconditions and motives that influence working beyond retirement age. In addition, the five domains of the STREAM research framework, including the additional domain of 'purpose in life', seem to be applicable to working beyond retirement age. This knowledge contributes to the development of work-related interventions that enhance older workers' motivation to prolong their working lives.
Physical activity (PA) has substantial benefits across a range of health outcomes. There is uncertainty about the PA-specific health effects, and in particular, the occupational domain. In this ...umbrella review, we synthesised available evidence on the associations between occupational PA (OPA) and health-related outcomes (including cancer, all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease). This work informed the development of WHO's guidelines on PA and sedentary behaviour (2020).
Umbrella review of systematic reviews.
We performed a literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL and Sportdiscuss from database inception to 2 December 2019.
We included systematic reviews if they contained a quantitative assessment of OPA and its relationship with at least one health-related outcome.
We summarised the evidence of 17 reviews covering 23 unique health-related outcomes. We graded most evidence as low or very low, or moderate quality. We found health benefits for those engaging in high versus low OPA for multiple cancer outcomes (including colon and prostate), ischaemic stroke, coronary heart disease and mental health (ie, mental well-being and life satisfaction). High OPA was associated with unfavourable health outcomes for all-cause mortality in men, mental ill health (ie, depression and anxiety), osteoarthritis, and sleep quality and duration.
We found favourable associations for most health-related outcomes with high OPA levels, but we also found some evidence for unfavourable associations due to high OPA levels. At this point, there is a need for better quality evidence to provide a unequivocal statement on the health effects of OPA.
The aim of this study was to compare chronotype‐ and age‐dependent sleep disturbances and social jetlag between rotating shift workers and non‐shift workers, and between different types of shifts. In ...the Klokwerk+ cohort study, we included 120 rotating shift workers and 74 non‐shift workers who were recruited from six Dutch hospitals. Participants wore Actigraph GT3X accelerometers for 24 hr for 7 days. From the Actigraph data, we predicted the sleep duration and social jetlag (measure of circadian misalignment). Mixed models and generalized estimation equations were used to compare the sleep parameters between shift and non‐shift workers. Within shift workers, sleep on different shifts was compared with sleep on work‐free days. Differences by chronotype and age were investigated using interaction terms. On workdays, shift workers had 3.5 times (95% confidence interval: 2.2–5.4) more often a short (< 7 hr per day) and 4.1 times (95% confidence interval: 2.5–6.8) more often a long (≥ 9 hr per day) sleep duration compared with non‐shift workers. This increased odds ratio was present in morning chronotypes, but not in evening chronotypes (interaction p‐value < .05). Older shift workers (≥ 50 years) had 7.3 times (95% confidence interval: 2.5–21.8) more often shorter sleep duration between night shifts compared with work‐free days, while this was not the case in younger shift workers (< 50 years). Social jetlag due to night shifts increased with increasing age (interaction p‐value < .05), but did not differ by chronotype (interaction p‐value ≥ .05). In conclusion, shift workers, in particular older workers and morning chronotypes, experienced more sleep disturbances than non‐shift workers. Future research should elucidate whether these sleep disturbances contribute to shift work‐related health problems.
Objectives: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are highly prevalent and put a large burden on (working) society. Primary prevention of work-related MSD focuses often on physical risk ...factors (such as manual lifting and awkward postures) but has not been too successful in reducing the MSD burden. This may partly be caused by insufficient knowledge of etiological mechanisms and/or a lack of adequately feasible interventions (theory failure and program failure, respectively), possibly due to limited integration of research disciplines. A research framework could link research disciplines thereby strengthening the development and implementation of preventive interventions. Our objective was to define and describe such a framework for multi-disciplinary research on work-related MSD prevention. Methods: We described a framework for MSD prevention research, partly based on frameworks from other research fields (ie, sports injury prevention and public health). Results: The framework is composed of a repeated sequence of six steps comprising the assessment of (i) incidence and severity of MSD, (ii) risk factors for MSD, and (iii) underlying mechanisms; and the (iv) development, (v) evaluation, and (vi) implementation of preventive intervention(s). Conclusions: In the present framework for optimal work-related MSD prevention, research disciplines are linked. This framework can thereby help to improve theories and strengthen the development and implementation of prevention strategies for work-related MSD.
To date, determinants of retirement timing have been studied separately within various disciplines, such as occupational health and economics. This narrative literature review explores the ...determinants of retirement timing in countries, and relevant domains among older workers from both an economic and occupational health perspective.
A literature search was conducted using 11 databases. Longitudinal studies on determinants of retirement timing were included. Study inclusion criteria were as follows: full-text article written in English or Dutch, conducted in humans, main outcome was time until retirement (i.e. retirement date or retirement age), and longitudinal design. Next, the included articles were screened for hypotheses on retirement timing and these articles with hypotheses were subjected to a quality assessment. Determinants for retirement timing were classified into multiple domains by three researchers.
The literature search identified 20 articles. The determinants of retirement timing were classified into eight domains: demographic factors, health factors, social factors, social participation, work characteristics, financial factors, retirement preferences, and macro effects. In total, we identified 49 determinants, ranging from one (social, and retirement preferences) to 21 determinants (work characteristics) per domain.
The findings suggest that there is a wide range of determinants that influence retirement timing in modern industrialized countries and that these determinants differ between countries. We recommend that researchers include determinants from various domains when studying retirement timing, while taking into account a country's context.
Lifting at work is considered an important risk factor for low back pain (LBP). However, contradictory findings have been reported, partly because frequency, duration and intensity (ie, the weight of ...the load) of lifting have not been systematically considered. This has hampered developments of threshold values for lifting. The aims of this study were: to assess the effect of lifting during work (quantified in duration, frequency or intensity) on the incidence of LBP and to quantify the impact of these relationships on the occurrence of LBP in occupational populations exposed to lifting. We searched in PubMed and EMBASE.com for longitudinal studies assessing the effect of occupational lifting on LBP incidence. For each study, the exposure–response slope of the association was estimated by loglinear regression analysis. When possible, a meta-analysis on these slopes was conducted. In a health impact assessment, the effects of the pooled exposure–response relationships on LBP incidence was assessed. Eight longitudinal studies were included. Pooled estimates resulted in ORs of 1.11 (1.05 to 1.18) per 10 kg lifted and 1.09 (1.03 to 1.15) per 10 lifts/day. Duration of lifting could not be pooled. Using these ORs, we estimated that lifting loads over 25 kg and lifting at a frequency of over 25 lifts/day will increase the annual incidence of LBP by 4.32% and 3.50%, respectively, compared to the incidence of not being exposed to lifting. Intensity and frequency of lifting significantly predict the occurrence of LBP. Exposure–response relationships show that lifting heavy loads may have a substantial impact on musculoskeletal health of the working population. This information may direct the development of occupational lifting guidelines and workplace design for LBP prevention.
Objective: One effective strategy for management of musculoskeletal disorders is self-management based on the biopsychosocial model. Self-management requires patients to have adequate health ...literacy, defined as the individual's ability to seek, understand, and utilize health information. Recently, the neck pain-specific health behavior for office workers (NHBOW) questionnaire was developed based upon a conceptual framework of health literacy. The content in the NHBOW relates to the work and exercise behaviors of office workers. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive validity of the NHBOW. Methods: At baseline, 342 healthy participants filled out a series of questionnaires, including the NHBOW. The incidence of neck pain was prospectively recorded every month over a 12-month period. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) were calculated. Results: There were 103 (30.7%) incidents of non-specific neck pain among 335 office workers during the 12-month period, and seven participants were lost to follow-up. For the NHBOW, a cut-off score of less than or equal to 8 points (lower scores indicate poorer health behavior) had a sensitivity of 57.3% and a specificity of 96.6%. The positive and negative predictive values were 88.1% and 83.6%, respectively. The AUC was 0.769 (95% CI: 0.706 to 0.832). Conclusion: The NHBOW was an acceptable screening tool for predicting non-specific neck pain in office workers during the 1-year follow-up period, and can be used in occupational and primary care settings.
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