Physical activity and ability to meet different work requirements among adult working men with or without current depressive symptoms

Abstract

Purpose To examine the relationship between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and ability to meet different work requirements among adult working men with or without current depressive symptoms. Methods We measured LTPA with the long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The Work Ability Index (WAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to assess the work ability and depression of 921 Finnish employed male volunteers. Participants were divided into three groups according to the WAI for their work requirements: mental (MENT), physical (PHYS), and an equal amount of mental and physical work (BTH). Results When adjusted for age, BMI and employment years, there was a significant difference in weekly LTPA between WAI groups {p = 0.003, [F (2902) = 5.58]}, but not for depression. It appeared that participants with depressive symptoms scored lower WAI in each group regardless of LTPA. In addition, a linear relationship was found between higher LTPA and WAI in nondepressed workers in the PHYS [p = 0.011, β = 0.10 (95% CI 0.03–0.18)] and BTH [p = 0.027, β = 0.19 (95% CI 0.03–0.34)] groups. Among workers with depressive symptoms, similar linearity was found in BTH [p = 0.003, β = 0.20 (95% CI 0.03–0.55)]. In group-wise comparison, work requirements {p = 0.001, [F (2902) = 11.2]} and depressive symptoms {p < 0.001, [F (1902) = 177.0]} related with lower WAI. Conclusion Depressive symptoms were associated with lower work ability regardless of the job description. Therefore, higher levels of weekly LTPA was linked with better work ability among nondepressed working men. Workers with depressive symptoms in jobs that require extensive mental or physical work might need more than exercise to improve work ability.

Depression and loneliness may predict work inefficiency among professionally active adults

“…The clinical manifestation of affective disorder is related to poor functional outcome and thus low work ability, particularly if symptoms like low energy, susceptibility to fatigue, lack of motivation or executive dysfunction (due to complaints of memory and attention disturbances) are more pronounced (Zack et al 2020 ; Warren et al 2021 ). This association may be independent of job characteristics, which was also seen in the current study as the constructed models were adjusted for a series of work-related factors (Zack et al 2020 ; Päivärinne et al 2021 ). In a recent meta-analysis, depressive symptoms have been shown to increase the risk of sick leave, with the effect being more pronounced for men (Amiri and Behnezhad 2021 ).…”