Laboratory of Clinical and Occupational Kinesiology, Department of Physical Therapy, Federal University of São Carlos, Washington Luiz Road, km 235, SP310, 13565-905, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil.
Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, Department of Occupational Health Sciences and Psychology, University of Gävle, SE-801 76, Gävle, Sweden.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Nov 28;22(1):2196. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14666-9.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the physical behaviours of office workers worldwide, but studies comparing physical behaviours between countries with similar restrictions policies are rare. This study aimed to document and compare the 24-hour time-use compositions of physical behaviours among Brazilian and Swedish office workers on working and non-working days during the pandemic.
Physical behaviours were monitored over 7 days using thigh-worn accelerometers in 73 Brazilian and 202 Swedish workers. Daily time-use compositions were exhaustively described in terms of sedentary behaviour (SED) in short (< 30 min) and long (≥30 min) bouts, light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and time-in-bed. We examined differences between countries using MANOVA on data processed according to compositional data analysis. As Swedish workers had the possibility to do hybrid work, we conducted a set of sensitivity analyses including only data from days when Swedish workers worked from home.
During working days, Brazilian office workers spent more time SED in short (294 min) and long (478 min) bouts and less time in LPA (156 min) and MVPA (50 min) than Swedish workers (274, 367, 256 and 85 min, respectively). Time spent in bed was similar in both groups. Similar differences between Brazilians and Swedes were observed on non-working days, while workers were, in general, less sedentary, more active and spent more time-in-bed than during working days. The MANOVA showed that Brazilians and Swedes differed significantly in behaviours during working (p < 0.001, η = 0.36) and non-working days (p < 0.001, η = 0.20). Brazilian workers spent significantly more time in SED relative to being active, less time in short relative to long bouts in SED, and more time in LPA relative to MVPA, both during workdays and non-workdays. Sensitivity analyses only on data from days when participants worked from home showed similar results.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Brazilian office workers were more sedentary and less active than Swedish workers, both during working and non-working days. Whether this relates to the perception or interpretation of restrictions being different or to differences present even before the pandemic is not clear, and we encourage further research to resolve this important issue.
COVID-19 大流行影响了全球上班族的身体活动行为，但比较具有相似限制政策的国家之间身体活动行为的研究很少。本研究旨在记录和比较大流行期间巴西和瑞典上班族在工作日和休息日 24 小时的身体活动行为时间分配。
73 名巴西和 202 名瑞典上班族在 7 天内使用大腿佩戴的加速度计监测身体活动，详细描述了每天的久坐行为（SED）的短时间（<30 分钟）和长时间（≥30 分钟）小睡、低强度身体活动（LPA）、中等到剧烈身体活动（MVPA）和卧床时间。我们使用 MANOVA 检查了不同国家之间的差异，使用根据组合数据分析处理的数据。由于瑞典上班族有可能进行混合工作，我们进行了一组敏感性分析，仅包括瑞典上班族在家工作的天数的数据。
在工作日，巴西上班族的短时间（294 分钟）和长时间（478 分钟）SED 时间较长，而 LPA（156 分钟）和 MVPA（50 分钟）时间较短，而瑞典上班族分别为 274、367、256 和 85 分钟。两组的卧床时间相似。在休息日，巴西人和瑞典人之间也观察到了类似的差异，而上班族在工作日的身体活动量总体上较少，更活跃，卧床时间更长。MANOVA 显示，巴西人和瑞典人在工作日（p<0.001，η=0.36）和休息日（p<0.001，η=0.20）的行为有显著差异。在工作日和休息日，巴西上班族在 SED 中的时间分配明显更多，SED 中的短时间分配相对较少，SED 中的 LPA 时间分配相对较多，MVPA 时间分配相对较少。仅对参与者在家工作的天数的数据进行敏感性分析，得到了相似的结果。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，巴西上班族在工作日和休息日都比瑞典上班族更久坐，活动量更少。这是否与对限制的感知或解释不同有关，或者与大流行前就存在的差异有关，目前尚不清楚，我们鼓励进一步研究以解决这一重要问题。
