Sit–stand workstations: A pilot intervention to reduce office sitting time

Background: Sitting time is a prevalent health risk among office-based workers. Purpose: To examine, using a pilot study, the efficacy of an intervention to reduce office workers ’ sitting time. Design: Quasi-experimental design with intervention group participants recruited from a single workplace that was physically separate from the workplaces of comparison group participants. Setting/participants: Office workers (Intervention=18; Comparison=14) aged 20-65 years from Brisbane, Australia; data collected and analyzed in 2011. Intervention: Installation of a commercially available sit-stand workstation. Main outcome measures: Changes from baseline at one-week and three-month follow up in time spent sitting, standing, and stepping at the workplace and during all waking time (activPAL3 activity monitor, 7-day observation). Fasting total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose levels were assessed at baseline and three months (Cholestech LDX Analyzer). Acceptability was assessed with a 5-point response scale (8 items). Results: The intervention group (relative to the comparison group) significantly reduced sitting time at one-week follow-up by 143 minutes/day at the workplace (95%CI =-184,-102) and 9