Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Among University Employees

International Journal of Exercise Science 7(4) : 295-301, 2014. The prevalence of overweight and obese in the U.S. has been thoroughly documented. With the advent of inactivity physiology research and the subsequent interest in sedentary behavior, the work environment has come under closer scrutiny as a potential opportunity to reverse inactivity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the sitting and physical activity (PA) habits among different classifications of university employees. University employees (n=625) completed an online survey based on the Occupational Sitting and Physical Activity Questionnaire (OSPAQ). Participants were instructed to describe time spent sitting, standing, walking, and in heavy physical labor during the last seven days, along with the number of breaks from sitting taken per hour. To establish habitual patterns of PA outside of work, employees recalled their participation in structured PA in the past seven days. Prior to data analysis, employees were categorized as Administration, Faculty, Staff, or Facilities Management. Statistically significant differences were found among employee classifications for min sit/d, p\u3c.001; min stand/d, p\u3c.001; min walk/d, p\u3c.001; and min heavy labor/d, p\u3c.001. No significant differences were found for breaks/h from sitting, p=.259 or participation in structured PA, p=. 33. With the exception of facilities management workers, university employees spent 75% of their workday seated. In conjunction with low levels of leisure time PA, university employees appear to be prime candidates for workplace interventions to reduce physical inactivity

Metabolic and Energy Cost of Sitting, Standing, and a Novel Sitting/Stepping Protocol in Recreationally Active College Students

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(2): 223-229, 2016. The purpose of this study was to compare the differences in metabolic and energy cost (MEC) of college students while seated, standing, and during a sitting/stepping protocol. Participants were assessed via indirect calorimetry for 20 min in each of the following conditions: 1) seated in a standard office chair, 2) standing in place, and 3) a sitting/stepping protocol in which participants performed 1 min of stepping in place at 90 bpm, sat for 9 min, then repeated the stepping and sitting sequence once more. Participants completed each of the 3 trials in the aforementioned order, preceded with a 3 min acclimation period in each condition. A significant difference in MEC was observed between the 3 conditions, p \u3c 0.001. Pairwise comparisons indicated that the sitting/stepping protocol resulted in significantly greater MEC than the seated and standing conditions (p \u3c 0.001). Additionally, the standing protocol resulted in significantly greater MEC than the seated protocol (p \u3c 0.001). The significant differences and large effect sizes between conditions indicate that interspersing sedentary bouts with brief activity can substantially increase MEC. Broader application of these findings may provide health promotion professionals with novel strategies to reduce sedentary behavior and improve health

Physical Activity and Screen Time Sedentary Behaviors in College Students

It is well established that Americans are not meeting physical activity (PA) guidelines and college students are no exception. Given the lack of regular PA, many health promotion professionals seek to discover what barriers to PA may exist. A common explanation is screen time (ST), which is comprised primarily of television viewing, computer use, and the playing of video games. The purpose of this study was to present descriptive data on college students’ PA and sedentary behavior and to assess if any evidence exists to suggest displacement between sedentary behaviors and PA in college students. Students completed an online health survey specific to time spent in PA and sedentary behavior. Students were categorized into one of three PA groups based on their activity level. Males were significantly more physically active than females in terms of days per week engaged in aerobic exercise (p=.022) and strength training (p\u3c.001). When categorized by activity level, a greater percentage of male students met recommended PA levels than did females (p\u3c.001). Males reported significantly higher levels of overall ST (p=.004) and television viewing (p\u3c.001), whereas females reported significantly higher levels of time spent engaged in homework (p\u3c.001). When categorized by activity level, physically active students reported significantly fewer minutes of total ST than inactive students (p=.047). Implications of this study suggest that within a college population, television and PA are not competing behaviors in either gender

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission): an extended white paper

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