Exposure to heavy physical occupational activities during working life and bone mineral density at the hip at retirement age
Exposure to heavy physical occupational activities during working life and bone mineral density at the hip at retirement age
Background
People in sedentary occupations are at increased risk of hip fracture. Hip fracture is significantly associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) measured at the hip. Physical activity is important in the development and maintenance of BMD, but the effects of occupational physical activity on bone health are unclear. We investigated the influence of lifetime physical activity on BMD at the hip.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional epidemiological study of the associations between total hip BMD measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at retirement age and lifetime exposure to occupational physical workload (standing/walking ?4?h/day; lifting ?25?kg; energetic work sufficient to induce sweating and manual work).
Results
Complete data on occupational exposures were available for 860 adults (488 men and 372 women) who had worked ?20?years. Their mean age was 65?years, and many reported heavy physical workplace activities over prolonged durations. There were no statistically significant associations between total hip BMD and any of these measures of lifetime occupational physical activity in men or women.
Conclusions
Lifetime cumulative occupational activity was not associated with hip BMD at retirement age. Our findings suggest that, if sedentary work conveys an increased risk of hip fracture, it is unlikely that the mechanism is through reductions in BMD at the hip and may relate to other physical effects, such as falls risk. Further studies will be needed to test this hypothesis.
329-331
Walker-Bone, K.
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D'Angelo, S.
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Syddall, H.E.
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Palmer, K.T.
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Cooper, C.
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Coggon, D.
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Dennison, E.M.
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1
11 March 2014
Walker-Bone, K.
ad7d1336-ed2c-4f39-ade5-da84eb412109
D'Angelo, S.
13375ecd-1117-4b6e-99c0-32239f52eed6
Syddall, H.E.
a0181a93-8fc3-4998-a996-7963f0128328
Palmer, K.T.
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Cooper, C.
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Coggon, D.
2b43ce0a-cc61-4d86-b15d-794208ffa5d3
Dennison, E.M.
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1
Walker-Bone, K., D'Angelo, S., Syddall, H.E., Palmer, K.T., Cooper, C., Coggon, D. and Dennison, E.M.
(2014)
Exposure to heavy physical occupational activities during working life and bone mineral density at the hip at retirement age.
Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 71 (5), .
(doi:10.1136/oemed-2013-101967).
(PMID:24619156)
Abstract
Background
People in sedentary occupations are at increased risk of hip fracture. Hip fracture is significantly associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) measured at the hip. Physical activity is important in the development and maintenance of BMD, but the effects of occupational physical activity on bone health are unclear. We investigated the influence of lifetime physical activity on BMD at the hip.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional epidemiological study of the associations between total hip BMD measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at retirement age and lifetime exposure to occupational physical workload (standing/walking ?4?h/day; lifting ?25?kg; energetic work sufficient to induce sweating and manual work).
Results
Complete data on occupational exposures were available for 860 adults (488 men and 372 women) who had worked ?20?years. Their mean age was 65?years, and many reported heavy physical workplace activities over prolonged durations. There were no statistically significant associations between total hip BMD and any of these measures of lifetime occupational physical activity in men or women.
Conclusions
Lifetime cumulative occupational activity was not associated with hip BMD at retirement age. Our findings suggest that, if sedentary work conveys an increased risk of hip fracture, it is unlikely that the mechanism is through reductions in BMD at the hip and may relate to other physical effects, such as falls risk. Further studies will be needed to test this hypothesis.
Text
Occ activity and BMD Revision 14.2.14 clean-1.docx
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e-pub ahead of print date: 11 March 2014
Published date: 11 March 2014
Organisations:
Faculty of Medicine
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 366411
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/366411
ISSN: 1351-0711
PURE UUID: eaad8306-acc8-467e-b1e0-72d9257a48e2
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Date deposited: 01 Jul 2014 11:16
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:23
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Contributors
Author:
S. D'Angelo
Author:
K.T. Palmer
Author:
D. Coggon
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