Associations between the objectively-measured office environment and workplace step count and sitting time: cross-sectional analyses from the Active Buildings study

Office-based workers spend a large proportion of the day sitting and tend to have low overall activity levels. Despite some evidence that features of the external physical environment are associated with physical activity, little is known about the influence of the spatial layout of the internal environment on movement and the majority of data use self-report. This study investigated associations between objectively-measured sitting time and activity levels and the spatial layout of office floors in a sample of UK office-based workers. Participants wore activPAL accelerometers for at least three consecutive workdays. Primary outcomes were steps and proportion of sitting time per working hour. Primary exposures were office spatial layout, which was objectively-measured by deriving key spatial variables: ‘distance from each workstation to key office destinations’, ‘distance from participant’s workstation to all other workstations’, ‘visibility of co-workers’ and workstation ‘closeness’. 131 participants from 10 organisations were included. 54% were female, 81% were white, and the majority had a managerial or professional role (72%) in their organisation. The average proportion of the working hour spent sitting was 0.7 (SD 0.15); participants took on average 444 (SD 210) steps per working hour. Models adjusted for confounders revealed significant negative associations between step count and distance from each workstation to all other office destinations (e.g. B=-4.66, 95%CI: -8.12, -1.12, p<0.01) and nearest office destinations (e.g. B=-6.45, 95%CI: -11.88, -0.41, p<0.05) and visibility of workstations when standing (B=-2.35, 95%CI: -3.53, -1.18, p