Work-related physical activity among cardiovascular specialists

Abstract

Background: Strong evidence supports positive correlation of physical activity with health benefits. Current recommendations by the American Heart Association are a minimum 30 minutes of moderate physical activity 5 days per week. This goal has been equilibrated with 10,000 steps per day.

Hypothesis: Work-related physical activity of cardiovascular (CV) specialists does not meet the currently recommended daily physical activity.

Methods: Eight cardiothoracic (CT) surgeons, 7 general cardiologists, 5 procedural cardiologists, and 8 cardiac anesthesiologists (N = 28) participated in the study. Demographic information on each participant was recorded including age, resting heart rate, body mass index, and medical and social history. Subjects were asked to wear a spring-levered pedometer on their hip for 2 weeks while at work and to record the total number of steps as well as number of hours worked each day.

Results: The average daily steps walked during work were 6540, 6039, 5910, and 5553 for general cardiologists, CT surgeons, procedural cardiologists, and cardiac anesthesiologists, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in the average number of steps taken per day among the groups. CT surgeons worked 12.4 hours per day compared to 9.3 hours by the cardiac anesthesiologists (P = 0.03).

Conclusions: In this small, single-center study, work-related physical activity of CV specialists did not meet the recommended guidelines. Obtaining the recommended activity level might be a challenge, given their busy work schedule. Therefore, CV specialists must engage in additional, out-of-hours exercise to achieve the recommended daily exercise.