Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2024 Dec;22(6):332-337.
doi: 10.1016/j.surge.2024.09.008. Epub 2024 Nov 22.

Surgeon ability to predict physical activity and sedentary time: Comparison of self-reported and measured activity

Stefanie Soelling  1 , Stephanie Polazzi  2 , Jean-Christophe Lifante  3 , Tanujit Dey  4 , Antoine Duclos  5
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Surgeon ability to predict physical activity and sedentary time: Comparison of self-reported and measured activity

Stefanie Soelling et al. Surgeon. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Prior work evaluated clinician work-related physical activity and found it does not meet recommended requirements. We aimed to assess more fully daily surgeon physical activity and compare it to self-reported activity.

Methods: This multispecialty prospective cohort study included attending surgeons from 14 surgical departments within four French university hospitals. Over a 14-month period (11/01/2020-12/31/2021), surgeons were continuously monitored 24/7 for their daily physical activity by wearing an accelerometer on their ankle. For each surgeon, measured parameters included the daily average of step counts and sedentary time, as well as the total weekly time of physical activity within the 30 days preceding surgeries. Surgeons self-reported the validated Global Physical Activity Questionnaire from the World Health Organization (WHO). The self-reported and measured physical activity of surgeons were described, and their correlation was assessed using Spearman rank correlation.

Results: Overall, there were 38 surgeons in the cohort and 8810 surgeries performed. Surgeons were 78.9 % male, median age was 46.1, and median BMI was 24.5. Median measured daily step count was 9439 (IQR: 7238-9918). The measured weekly total time of physical activity was 918 min (95 % CI: 767-990), while the corresponding self-reported median time was 1940 min (95 % CI: 1120-3600) (Spearman coefficient = 0.14, p = 0.41). The measured median daily sedentary time was 353 min (95 % CI: 316-374), compared to a self-reported median of 240 min (95 % CI: 210-300) (Spearman coefficient = 0.20, p = 0.24).

Conclusions: Surgeons may overestimate the sufficiency of their physical activity and underestimate their sedentary time. Increased awareness is needed to improve surgeon wellness.

Keywords: Correlation; Measured; Physical activity; Sedentary time; Surgeon self-report.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Antoine Duclos reports financial support was provided by European Research Council. Antoine Duclos reports financial support was provided by French Ministry of Health. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of Included Patients.
Fig. 2a
Fig. 2a
Comparison of surgeon self-reported weekly physical activity to measured.
Fig. 2b
Fig. 2b
Comparison of surgeon self-reported daily sedentary time to measured.
Fig. 3a
Fig. 3a
Correlation between surgeon self-reported weekly physical activity and measured physical activity.
Fig. 3b
Fig. 3b
Correlation between surgeon self-reported daily sedentary time and measured sedentary time.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Physical Activity. Geneva, Switzerland. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity. Accessed June 7, 2024.
    1. Abd T.T., Kobylivker A., Perry A., Miller Iii J., Sperling L. Work-related physical activity among cardiovascular specialists. Clin Cardiol. 2012 Feb;35(2):78–82. doi: 10.1002/clc.21954. Epub 2012 Jan 23. PMID: 22271102; PMCID: PMC6652291. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jatkinson J., Goody R.B., Walker C.A. Walking at work: a pedometer study assessing the activity levels of doctors. Scot Med J. 2005 May;50(2):73–74. doi: 10.1177/003693300505000210. PMID: 15981342. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Murphy I.G., Murphy C.G., Heffernan E.J. A comparative analysis of the occupational energy expenditure of radiologists versus clinicians. Ir J Med Sci. 2015 Dec;184(4):889–892. doi: 10.1007/s11845-014-1215-z. Epub 2014 Oct 24. PMID: 25342162. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Assayag E., Wiener R., Gelman E., Abulafia A., Wasser L.M., Hanhart J., Zadok D., Weill Y. The physical activity level of ophthalmologists at work: a pedometer-based study. Workplace Health & Saf. 2023 Jan;71(1):6–12. doi: 10.1177/21650799221099039. Epub 2022 Jun 7. PMID: 35673758. - DOI - PubMed