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Comparative Study
. 2021 Jan;63(1):e12212.
doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12212.

Associations of working from home with occupational physical activity and sedentary behavior under the COVID-19 pandemic

Noritoshi Fukushima  1 , Masaki Machida  1 , Hiroyuki Kikuchi  1 , Shiho Amagasa  1 , Toshio Hayashi  1 , Yuko Odagiri  1 , Tomoko Takamiya  1 , Shigeru Inoue  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Associations of working from home with occupational physical activity and sedentary behavior under the COVID-19 pandemic

Noritoshi Fukushima et al. J Occup Health. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Objectives: To compare physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) levels during work time between those who work from home (WFH) and at workplaces (no WFH), and by WFH subgroups.

Methods: This cross-sectional internet-based survey included 1239 workers (mean age [standard deviation], 44.7 [13.7] years; 59.2% men) living in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Time spent sitting (SB), standing (light-intensity PA; LPA), walking, and engaging in heavy labor (moderate-to-vigorous PA; MVPA) during work time was measured using the Work-related Physical Activity Questionnaire. Workers reported weekly WFH percentages (eg, 0% implies no WFH and 100% implies full WFH), and WFH percentages were categorized into no WFH (0% WFH) and WFH (1%-100% WFH) groups. The WFH group was further subcategorized into 1%-25%, 26%-50%, 51%-75%, and 76%-100% subgroups.

Results: Overall, 494 workers (39.9%) worked from home. During working hours, SB time was longer in the WFH group than in the no WFH group (mean minutes [% working-time SB]: 335.7 vs 224.7 min [74% vs 50%]). Significantly shorter LPA and MVPA times (%) were reported in the WFH group than in the no WFH group (LPA, 59.6 vs 122.9 min [14% vs 29%]; MVPA, 55.3 vs 91.9 min [13% vs 22%], all P < .001). Among the WFH subgroups, longer SB time and shorter LPA and MVPA times were observed in the highest WFH group (WFH 76%-100%) than in the WFH 1%-25% and 26%-50% subgroups.

Conclusions: Workers who telecommuted were less physically active and had longer sedentary during work time than those who worked at the workplaces.

Keywords: COVID-19; physical activity; sedentary behavior; telework.

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Conflict of interest statement

Approval of the research protocol: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan (No: T2019‐0234). Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all respondents. Registry and the registration no. of the study/trial: N/A. Animal studies: N/A. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Comparisons of SB, intensity‐specific PA, and SB bout length during work among the different degree of WFH groups. SB, sedentary behavior; PA, physical activity; WFH, work from home. Values are presented as estimated means and standard error by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), adjusted for age, gender, smoking, drinking frequency, body mass index (BMI), residential area, educational attainment, self‐rated health, job characteristics, industrial classification, and working time. Post hoc comparisons were examined using the Bonferroni method. †<.001, ‡<.05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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