Study on association of working hours and occupational physical activity with the occurrence of coronary heart disease in a Chinese population

• Published in: PloS one 2017-10, Vol.12 (10), p.e0185598-e0185598
• Main Authors: Ma, Yao, Wang, Ying-Jun, Chen, Bing-Rui, Shi, Hao-Jie, Wang, Hao, Khurwolah, Mohammad Reeaze, Li, Ya-Fei, Xie, Zhi-Yong, Yang, Yang, Wang, Lian-Sheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Cardiology; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Case-Control Studies; China; Chronic illnesses; Confidence intervals; Coronary artery disease; Coronary Disease - epidemiology; Coronary heart disease; Coronary vessels; Demographic aspects; Diabetes; Employment; Epidemiology; Exercise; Female; Gene expression; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Heart; Heart diseases; Hospitals; Humans; Hyperlipidemia; Male; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Mortality; Musculoskeletal system; Occupations; People and Places; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Physiology; Public health; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk; Risk factors; Risk taking; Sedentary behavior; Social Sciences; Statistical analysis; Studies; Veins & arteries; Work hours; Working hours
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185598

To explore the association of working hours and occupational physical activity (OPA) with the occurrence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a Chinese population. A total of 595 participants (354 and 241 patients with and without CHD, respectively) aged between 24 and 65 were enrolled in our study, which was conducted at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between December 2015 and October 2016. Participant characteristics were collected from face-to-face questionnaires, and logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the association of working hours and OPA with the occurrence of CHD. Compared with non-employed people, long working hours (especially ≥55 hours/week) contributed to the occurrence of CHD (adjusted odds ratio[OR] = 2.213, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.125, 4.355, P = 0.021) after multivariate adjustment in the Chinese population. With the extension of worktime, the CHD risk increased (P for the dose-response trend = 0.022). Meanwhile, even after adjusting for engagement in physical activity during leisure time, sedentary behavior at work had an adverse effect on CHD risk (adjusted OR = 2.794, 95%CI: 1.526, 5.115, P = 0.001), and a linear relationship was also found between OPA and CHD (P for the trend = 0.005). Long working hours and sedentary behavior at work are associated with a high risk of CHD. In addition, prolonged working hours in sedentary occupations increases the risk of CHD, independent of engagement in leisure time physical activity.