Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Department of Public Health, Federico II University Hospital, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
J Occup Health. 2024 Jan 4;66(1). doi: 10.1093/joccuh/uiad006.
Work ability (WA) reflects a balance between work demands and an individual's ability to meet them. It is influenced by several occupational and health-related factors including the individual's physical fitness (PF). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to provide an overview of the possible relationship between PF measures and the individual's WA.
A systematic review of studies published up to December 1, 2022 and available in PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science databases, was performed. Results have been summarized according to the specific PF parameter explored.
The 14 reviewed studies, enrolling 47 to 1005 workers, all showed a satisfactory methodological quality. Some positive evidence emerged for a possible association between changes in aerobic capacity, walking speed, balance, flexibility, muscle strength, and WA perception. However, the limited number of studies, their cross-sectional design, the different PF performance indicators, populations, and job tasks explored prevented definite conclusions.
Future longitudinal studies should be planned to confirm such positive results and identify PF indicators better predictive for changes in the WA of employees engaged in specific job tasks, particularly in physically demanding activities. This may be helpful to include PF performance tests in occupational health practice as an integrated part of risk assessment and management strategies as well as in health and well-being promotion plans.
工作能力 (WA) 反映了工作要求与个人满足这些要求的能力之间的平衡。它受到几个与职业和健康相关的因素的影响，包括个体的身体健康 (PF)。因此，本研究的目的是概述 PF 测量值与个体 WA 之间可能存在的关系。
对截至 2022 年 12 月 1 日在 PubMed、Scopus 和 ISI Web of Science 数据库中发表的研究进行了系统回顾。根据所探讨的特定 PF 参数对结果进行了总结。
综述的 14 项研究共纳入了 47 至 1005 名工人，所有研究的方法学质量均较高。一些证据表明，有氧能力、步行速度、平衡、灵活性、肌肉力量和 WA 感知的变化之间可能存在关联。然而，研究数量有限、研究设计为横断面研究、PF 表现指标、研究人群和工作任务不同，限制了结论的确定性。
未来应计划进行纵向研究，以确认这些积极结果，并确定哪些 PF 指标更能预测从事特定工作任务的员工 WA 的变化，特别是在体力要求较高的活动中。这有助于将 PF 表现测试纳入职业健康实践，作为风险评估和管理策略以及健康和幸福感促进计划的综合组成部分。
