Clinical trial NCT03587233: Are Women With Higher Professional Status More Sedentary Compared to Men?
Official title: Physical Activity Level and Gender-differences of Adults in Different Professional Status
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Professional Role
Physical Activity
Obesity
Education
Body Composition
Keywords: Weight status
Body mass index
Physical activity level
Lifestyle behaviour
Lead sponsor: Istinye University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2018-07-16
Enrollment: 200
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 35
Maximum age (years): 70
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: It is aimed to understand the gender differences on factors affecting the resting metabolic rate of people in different professional status.

The relation between daily and weekly walking and sitting time, body mass index (kg/m2), Ponderal Index (kg/cm), waist-to-hip ratio of the participants will be searched. In this context, the demographic data (age, gender, neck and waist circumference (cm), occupation, education level) of the participants will be gathered with a questionnaire, specifically prepared for this study. The body composition analyses and International Physical Activity Level Questionnaire (IPAQ), Healthy Eating Index (HEI) will also be used to understand their body composition, physical activity level and eating habits, respectively. The data will be compared to understand the effects of education level and type of occupation on their physical activity level, as well as, the effects of trainings on adapting healthy behaviour of the participants as physical activity, healthy eating habits in relation to gender and professional status.

Detailed description: Being overweight and obese are becoming serious health care problems in developed countries as well as in Turkey. Both are associated with severe health problems as increased risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory and renal problems, and certain types of cancer. The behavioral and environmental factors (i.e. sedentary lifestyles combined with excess energy intake, unhealthy diet, low level of education and poverty) are primarily responsible for the dramatic increase of obesity. In Turkey, the prevalence of obesity has increased by 65% among men and 30% among women during the 90's. According to the recent findings of The National Household Research the incidence of being overweight was 31.35% and obese was 12.2% among those above 18 years. This was 28.93% and 14.59% in females and 33.64% and 9.70% in males, respectively. It was also reported that the incidence of being overweight had a tendency to increase linearly by age: 2.53% between 18-24 years, 7.96% between 25 - 34 years, 15.57% between 35-44 years, 22.61% between 45-54 years, 22.55% between years 55 - 64 years. This increase in obesity with aging may not be only due to the decrease in the fat-free mass but also due to an impaired ability to regulate the energy balance with age. Therefore, the age-related decline in basal metabolic rate, which is also related to the reduction in fat-free mass may alter the energy balance and contribute to weight gain. Thus, physical activity is essential for obese subjects in order to maintain or to increase their basal metabolic rate as well as their daily energy expenditure to enhance their weight loss.

Therefore, regular physical exercise may be considered as an effective tool to increase the resting metabolic rate by improving the muscle mass. However, the modern life, equipped with technological support, has eventually decreased the amount of daily physical activities in household tasks, transportation or in work environments. As Kirk and Rhodes stated the positions of higher professional status are more likely to engage in sedentary work-related behavior (i.e. sitting) compared to those working in positions of lower professional status (i.e. manual labor). Additionally, male were more likely to be employed in blue-collar or high-manual-labor positions that require high physical activity compared to women. The women mostly prefer non-occupational and non-leisure activities; for instance house-work. It is also reported that low level physical activity habit is higher among people having office work and living in the cities in Turkey.

Therefore, we have aimed to evaluate the physical activity level, physical status and the eating habits of the people in higher or lower professional statuses, and observe the gender differences.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* High status Professionals in both gender(white collars)
* Low professional status (blue collars)
* Being between 35-70 years
* Eligible to follow the given tasks

Exclusion Criteria:

* No volunteering to join to the study
* No eagerness to give information about his/her physical activity level
* Do not let to perform the physical assessments

Primary outcomes:
measure: Physical measures
timeFrame: 4 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Hand and pinch grip power
timeFrame: 4 months
measure: Level of physical activity
timeFrame: 4 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Istanbul
country: Turkey
facility: Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Istinye University
Study officials:
affiliation: Istinye University
name: Serap Inal, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: van Uffelen JG, Wong J, Chau JY, van der Ploeg HP, Riphagen I, Gilson ND, Burton NW, Healy GN, Thorp AA, Clark BK, Gardiner PA, Dunstan DW, Bauman A, Owen N, Brown WJ. Occupational sitting and health risks: a systematic review. Am J Prev Med. 2010 Oct;39(4):379-88. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2010.05.024.
citation: Tremmel M, Gerdtham UG, Nilsson PM, Saha S. Economic Burden of Obesity: A Systematic Literature Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Apr 19;14(4):435. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14040435.
citation: Dunstan DW, Howard B, Healy GN, Owen N. Too much sitting--a health hazard. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2012 Sep;97(3):368-76. doi: 10.1016/j.diabres.2012.05.020. Epub 2012 Jun 9.
citation: Neuhaus M, Healy GN, Dunstan DW, Owen N, Eakin EG. Workplace sitting and height-adjustable workstations: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med. 2014 Jan;46(1):30-40. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2013.09.009.
citation: Shrestha N, Pedisic Z, Neil-Sztramko S, Kukkonen-Harjula KT, Hermans V. The Impact of Obesity in the Workplace: a Review of Contributing Factors, Consequences and Potential Solutions. Curr Obes Rep. 2016 Sep;5(3):344-60. doi: 10.1007/s13679-016-0227-6.
citation: Judice PB, Hamilton MT, Sardinha LB, Zderic TW, Silva AM. What is the metabolic and energy cost of sitting, standing and sit/stand transitions? Eur J Appl Physiol. 2016 Feb;116(2):263-73. doi: 10.1007/s00421-015-3279-5.