Industrial hygienic study on nursing activities comparison of energy expenditure between pedometer and Holter electrocardiograph.

Few objective and quantitative studies have been made on energy expenditure during hospital nursing activities. The pedometer is a light handy instrument, which gives highly accurate results, and is a minimal burden for subjects. To ascertain daily energy expenditures, we used a pedometer. Twelve day-shift nurses served as subjects, in whom the number of steps token in 16 hours, from getting up until going to bed, was measured. We used the data obtained to calculate energy expenditures for 24 hours. In addition, eight nurses were chosen from among these subjects to undergo simultaneous pedometry and Holter electrocardiography. These data were also used to calculate energy expenditures. The following results were obtained. 1) The maximum total number of steps was 13897, the minimum 9899 and the mean +/- standard deviation was 11478.4 +/- 1285.8. 2) As to the energy expenditure of the eight nurses who were both pedometer and Holter electrocardiograph, the highest energy expenditure calculated from pedometry results was 2648 kcal. the lowest 2455 kcal, and the mean +/- standard deviation was 2514.1 +/- 55.5. The highest energy calculated from Holter electrocardiographic data was 3040 kcal, the lowest 2683 kcal, and the mean +/- standard deviation was 2868.1 +/- 108.0. The correlation coefficient was r = 0.59, (P < 0.05).