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Published on: March 7, 2019
Does accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time differ between manual, in-office, hybrid and remote
Tuija Leskinen1,2, Kristin Suorsa3,2, Jesse Pasanen3,2
1Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland tuija.leskinen@utu.fi.
Objectives:
Studies on accelerometer-measured daily physical activity behaviour, especially among hybrid and remote workers, are scarce. We compared daily occupational and non-occupational physical activity and sedentary time among manual, in-office, hybrid and remote workers. In addition, physical activity behaviour during remote and office workdays among hybrid workers was compared.
Methods:
Daily physical activity behaviour was collected with wrist-worn accelerometers on ≥4 days from 133 Finnish workers (31 years, 61% women). Participants were divided into four groups according to their work modes: manual (n=32), in-office (n=49), hybrid (n=35) and remote workers (n=17). Differences in physical activity and sedentary time during workdays (separately for occupational and non-occupational time) between the groups were examined using generalised linear models. Linear mixed models were used for intra-individual differences among hybrid workers.
Results:
Workdays' occupational physical activity and sedentary time differed between the work mode groups (p<0.0001); the manual workers accumulated the highest occupational physical activity, while both hybrid and remote workers accumulated the highest occupational sedentary time. No differences in non-occupational behaviours were observed. Among hybrid workers, occupational sedentary time tended to be higher (26 min, 95% CI -2 to 53) during remote versus office workdays, but non-occupational behaviours were similar.
Conclusions:
Remote work is associated with the lowest physical activity and the highest sedentary time compared with other work modes. Strategies to promote physical activity during remote workdays may be needed.
