Can socio-economic health differences be explained by physical activity? The Active Worker consortium
Description: Lichamelijke activiteit wordt als ‘medicijn’ tegen allerlei ziektes gezien. Recent onderzoek laat echter zien dat mensen die lichamelijk actief zijn op hun werk vaker een slechte gezondheid hebben dan diegenen die dat niet zijn. Daar komt bij dat werknemers met een lager sociaaleconomische positie weliswaar vaak lichamelijk actief zijn op hun werk, maar inactief tijdens hun vrije tijd. Deze werknemers hebben daarom, naast de negatieve gezondheidseffecten van hoog-intensieve lichamelijke activiteit op het werk, beperkt profijt van gunstige gezondheidseffecten van lichamelijke activiteit in de vrije tijd. In het Active Worker consortium zullen wij verschillende internationale gegevensbestanden samenvoegen. Hiermee zullen we de rol van lichamelijke activiteit in de vrije tijd en op het werk op sociaaleconomische gezondheidsverschillen bestuderen. Dit consortium zal belangrijke informatie genereren ter verbetering van de gezondheid van werknemers met een lage sociaaleconomische positie.\n\nApplication summary: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IS A LIKELY DRIVER OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC HEALTH DIFFERENCES Physical activity is considered to be a magic pill for the prevention of non-communicable diseases. However, RECENT EVIDENCE SURPRISINGLY SUGGESTS THAT WORKERS WHO ARE HIGHLY PHYSICALLY ACTIVE AT WORK DIE EARLIER THAN LESS ACTIVE WORKERS – even when controlling for health, lifestyle and socio-economic factors. This is very paradoxical as physical activity has consistently been found to promote longevity and good health. Additionally, WORKERS FROM LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITIONS ARE KNOWN TO BE OVERLY INACTIVE DURING THEIR LEISURE-TIME, as these workers spend most of their daily physical activity time during work. Therefore, apart from the negative health effects of high intensity occupational physical activity, highly active workers benefit only to a limited extent from the positive health effects of leisure-time physical activity. As a result of this, socio-economic health differences can likely be explained through physical activity. Such differences may even be reinforced by current physical activity guidelines and public health interventions that do not distinguish different (e.g. leisure-time and work) domains of physical activity. As a consequence, many workers as well as health professionals mistakenly believe that physical activity at work can improve general health. Such believes and policies do not encourage workers that are highly active at work to remain physically active during their leisure-time. KNOWLEDGE GAP FOR THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC HEALTH DIFFERENCES As it is unknown to what extent highly active workers can improve their health by being active during leisure-time, a better understanding of the contrasting health effects of occupational and leisure-time physical activity is urgently needed. Such knowledge would help identifying workers from lower socio-economic position at which lifestyle interventions should be targeted, highlight the importance of leisure-time activity for such workers, and pinpoint the role particular barriers and facilitators play in the effectiveness and implementation of such interventions. THE ‘ACTIVE WORKER CONSORTIUM’ In the ‘Active Worker consortium’ we propose an individual participant data meta-analysis aimed at improving the health of workers from lower socio-economic position jobs through physical activity. We will: 1) study the contribution of occupational and leisure-time physical activity in socio-economic health differences, 2) assess what type of leisure-time physical activity offsets the risk of occupational physical activity, 3) identify groups that are particularly affected by socio-economic health differences due to physical activity (e.g. with chronic non-communicable diseases, obesity, hypertension) and 4) identify factors that may reduce socio-economic health differences due to physical activity (e.g. physical fitness or being part of a certain –socio-economic position– group). ONLY AN INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT DATA-SET, AS WILL BE COMPOSED IN THE PROPOSED RESEARCH, WILL HAVE THE RICHNESS TO ADDRESS THESE RESEARCH AIMS. Results from the proposed research will provide useful information on the contrasting health effects of occupational and leisure-time physical activity in a very practical and feasible way. Such information will clarify what lifestyle interventions may work for whom and when, guiding interventions to improve the health of workers from certain lower socio-economic position jobs (in accordance to the key goals of the Dutch ‘National Prevention Program’). FEASIBILITY As the proposed consortium already consists of researchers committed to contribute to their knowledge as well as their study data, the failure of the proposed research is negligible. DISSEMINATION The ultimate goal of our research dissemination is to REACH THE TARGET GROUP OF WORKERS FROM LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITIONS JOBS THAT ARE HIGHLY ACTIVE AT WORK, but not during their leisure-time. This group is, however, often difficult to reach for health professionals. According to the proposed knowledge dissemination plan, we will compose a dissemination working group of relevant stakeholders (i.e. representatives of the target group, those being experts in reaching lower socio-economic groups, policymakers, public health professionals and researchers) that will help disseminate our research findings. We will discuss what types of messages can best be used to reach the target group and in what way. This will lead to dissemination materials specifically designed for the target group, e.g. visual-based factsheets and short videos that can be shared through social media channels.\n\nKeywords: [{"boost": 1, "value": "fysieke activiteit"}, {"boost": 1, "value": "sociaaleconomische gezondheidsverschillen"}, {"boost": 1, "value": "werknemers"}]
Funder: ZonMw
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: ["Preventie 5: Deelprogramma 3 - Werk(en) is gezond"]
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2020-05-13
Investigator: Dr. P. Coenen
Institution: Amsterdam UMC - locatie VUmc
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: zonmw-531001413-24018
OpenAlex ID: G6413088707