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Intensity of occupational physical activity in blue-collar workers: do self-reported rating and device-worn measurements agree?

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Abstract

Purpose

High intensity occupational physical activity (OPA) seem to aggravate health and increase risk of sick leave and early retirement. Most intensity of OPA monitoring has been self-reported, e.g. by rating of perceived exertion (RPE). However, no studies have investigated the precision and risk of bias in RPE reporting during free-living OPA. This study investigated the agreement between OPA intensity in percentage of the heart rate reserve (%HRR) estimated from RPE and device-measured heart rate (HR), and potential bias factors on this agreement.

Methods

The CR10 scale measured RPE at work. The Actiheart monitor measured HR during 24-h a day for 2–4 days. Both RPE and device-worn HR were converted to %HRR. The difference between both %HRR and their limits of agreement was determined in a Bland Altman plot. To detect bias factors, the difference between both %HRR was regressed on age, sex, cardiorespiratory fitness, occupational lifting, medication, consequences of musculoskeletal disorders and the interactions between these factors with device-work %HRR.

Results

Six hundred and twenty-three participants were included in the analysis. Mean difference between RPE-based and device-worn %HRR was 54.6% (SD 19.5). The limits of agreement were wide (11.6–90.1%HRR). Age (0.48%HRR, 95% CI 0.18–0.79) occupational lifting (9.84%HRR, 95% CI 3.85–15.83) and cardiorespiratory fitness (0.41%HRR, 95% CI 0.03–0.79) significantly biased the agreement between the estimations of OPA intensity.

Conclusion

RPE overestimated OPA intensity, and was biased by several factors. Device-worn %HRR should be preferred when evaluating OPA intensity among workers with physically demanding jobs.

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Availability of data and material

Data are available upon request to and approval by the steering committee of the DPhacto cohort. Information regarding data request can be sent to Andreas Holtermann (aho@nfa.dk).

Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

bpm:

Beats per minute

CI:

Confidence interval

CRF:

Cardiorespiratory fitness

DPhacto:

Danish PHysical ACTivity cohort with Objective measurements

h:

Hours

HR:

Heart rate

HRR:

Heart rate reserve

%HRR:

Percentage of heart rate reserve

MSD:

Musculoskeletal disorders

OPA:

Occupational physical activity

RPE:

Rate of perceived exertion

SD:

Standard deviation

SHR:

Sleeping heart rate

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the DPhacto research group for their massive contributions in the collections and preparation of data. The data collection enabling these analyses was partly supported by a grant from the Danish government (Satspulje). Theses reported analyses was partly funded by public funds, via the Danish Work Environment Research Foundation, grant number 20150067515.

Funding

The study was funded by the project Work-ability, -load and -capacity in collaboration between Department of Occupational and Social Medicine, Holbæk Hospital and The National Research Centre for the Working Environment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Mette Korshøj, Nidhi Gupta & Andreas Holtermann

  2. Department of Occupational and Social Medicine, Holbæk Sygehus, Part of Copenhagen University Hospital, Gl. Ringstedvej 4B, 4300, Holbæk, Denmark

    Mette Korshøj & Ole Steen Mortensen

  3. Department of Public Health, Section of Social Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1014, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Ole Steen Mortensen

  4. Occupational Health and Safety, Copenhagen Municipality, Enghavevej 82, 2450, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Marie Birk Jørgensen

  5. Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense, Denmark

    Andreas Holtermann

Authors
  1. Mette Korshøj
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  2. Nidhi Gupta
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  3. Ole Steen Mortensen
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  4. Marie Birk Jørgensen
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  5. Andreas Holtermann
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Contributions

MK: conceived the idea, analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. MK and NG: designed the protocol for analysis and MK, NG, AH and OM: discussed the interpretation of the results. MK, AH and MJ: collaborated in the design and protocol for the DPhacto cohort. All authors read, commented and approved the manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mette Korshøj.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Data are collected in accordance to the Declaration of Helsinki, and the local ethical committee approved the design and protocol initial to data collection (H-2-2012-011).

Consent to participate

All participants signed an informed consent to participate initial to data collection.

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All authors gave consent to submit the manuscript.

Additional information

Communicated by Lori Ann Vallis.

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Korshøj, M., Gupta, N., Mortensen, O.S. et al. Intensity of occupational physical activity in blue-collar workers: do self-reported rating and device-worn measurements agree?. Eur J Appl Physiol 122, 1293–1301 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04920-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04920-8

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