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Epidemiology
Research
Association between occupational physical activity and myocardial infarction: a prospective cohort study
  1. Anna M Johnsen1,
  2. Lars Alfredsson2,3,
  3. Anders Knutsson4,
  4. Peter J M Westerholm5,
  5. Eleonor I Fransson1,2
  1. 1Department of Natural Science and Biomedicine, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden
  2. 2Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  3. 3Centre for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
  4. 4Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden
  5. 5Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Anna M Johnsen; anna.johnsen{at}ju.se

Abstract

Objective Recommendations regarding physical activity typically include both leisure time and occupational physical activity. However, the results from previous studies on occupational physical activity and the association with myocardial infarction have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate if occupational physical activity is associated with the risk of myocardial infarction.

Design Prospective cohort study.

Participants Data from the Swedish Work, Lipids and Fibrinogen (WOLF) study was used, comprising 9961 employees (6849 men, 3112 women, mean age 42.7 years) having no history of myocardial infarction. The participants were categorised into 3 groups according to their level of occupational physical activity.

Outcome Data regarding incident myocardial infarction were obtained from the Swedish National Patient Register and the Cause of Death Register. Cox proportional hazard regression was used for estimation of HRs for different levels of occupational physical activity in relation to the risk of myocardial infarction.

Results During a mean follow-up of 13.1 years, 249 cases of incident myocardial infarction were identified. In analyses adjusted for age, sex and socioeconomic status, participants standing and walking more than 50% of their working day had an HR of 1.13 (95% CI 0.83 to 1.54), compared with participants seated more than 50% of their working day. The corresponding HR for participants whose work included lifting or carrying was 0.86 (95% CI 0.59 to 1.24). Further adjustment did not alter the results. Stratified analyses resulted in a significantly decreased risk for young people whose work included lifting or carrying, HR 0.37 (95% CI 0.17 to 0.84), compared with younger persons who sat most of their working day.

Conclusions No significant association between occupational physical activity and the risk of myocardial infarction was observed in the total group of employees in this study. Based on the results from this study, occupational physical activity in general does not seem to be enough for reducing the risk of myocardial infarction.

  • physical activity
  • prospective study
  • work

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi-org.ezproxy.u-pec.fr/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012692

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors LA, AK and PJMW were responsible for the baseline data collection. AMJ and EIF were responsible for the conception and design of this study. AMJ drafted the first version of the manuscript. All authors interpreted the data and revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. They also read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval Ethics Committee at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm (#92-198) Regional Ethical Review board in Stockholm (#2006/257-31).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.