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Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health 9/2023

Open Access 19-09-2023 | Original Article

Occupational physical activity and resting blood pressure in male construction workers

Authors: Jerry Öhlin, Per Liv, Martin Andersson, Bengt Järvholm, Lisbeth Slunga Järvholm, Albin Stjernbrandt, Viktoria Wahlström

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 9/2023

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Abstract

Objective

This study investigated the association between occupational physical activity (OPA) and resting blood pressure in a cohort of Swedish construction workers.

Methods

The final sample included 241,176 male construction workers. Occupations with low OPA were foremen and white-collar workers. The most frequent occupations in the medium OPA group were electricians, pipe workers, and machine operators, and in the high OPA group woodworkers, concrete workers, and painters.

Results

Mixed effects models showed higher systolic and lower diastolic blood pressure with higher OPA, but the associations varied depending on the year of participation and participant age as shown by significant interaction terms (OPA*age, OPA*calendar year, age*calendar year). Age-stratified linear regression analyses showed a pattern of slightly higher systolic (1.49, 95% confidence interval: 1.08–1.90 mmHg) and lower diastolic (0.89, 95% confidence interval: 0.65–1.13 mmHg) blood pressure when comparing low with high OPA, but not among the oldest age groups.

Conclusion

Despite a rather large contrast in OPA, the differences in systolic and diastolic blood pressure according to OPA were small.
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Literature
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Metadata
Title
Occupational physical activity and resting blood pressure in male construction workers
Authors
Jerry Öhlin
Per Liv
Martin Andersson
Bengt Järvholm
Lisbeth Slunga Järvholm
Albin Stjernbrandt
Viktoria Wahlström
Publication date
19-09-2023
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 9/2023
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-023-02006-2

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