Objectively measured physical activity in Finnish employees: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: To objectively measure the amount of intensity-specific physical activity by gender and age with respect to body mass index (BMI) during workdays and days off among Finnish employees. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Primary care occupational healthcare units. Participants: A sample of 9554 Finnish employees (4221 men and 5333 women; age range 18–65 years; BMI range 18.5–40 kg/m2) who participated in health assessments related to occupational health promotion. Main outcome measurements: The amount of moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) and vigorous (VPA) physical activity (≥3 and ≥6 metabolic equivalents, respectively) was assessed by estimating the minuteto-minute oxygen consumption from the recorded beat-to-beat R-R interval data. The estimation method used heart rate, respiration rate and on/off response information from R-R interval data calibrated by age, gender, height, weight and self-reported physical activity class. The proportion of participants fulfilling the aerobic physical activity recommendation of ≥150 min/week was calculated on the basis of ≥10 min bouts, by multiplying the VPA minutes by 2. Results: Both MVPA and VPA were higher among men and during days off, and decreased with increasing age and BMI (p