ASSESSMENT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL IN OFFICE WORKERS ACCORDING TO OBESITY AND SOME VARIABLES (The Akdeniz University Hospital example)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the level of physical activity in hospital office workers according to gender, working years, tobacco usage habits, and obesity. The population of the study consisted of office workers at Akdeniz University Hospital. Random sampling of the population included 398 office workers in total, of whom 271 were females and 127 males. The short form of ‘International Physical Activity Questionnaire’ (IPAQ) was used to determine physical activity levels. These levels were classified as "non-active", "low" and "sufficient". Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to evaluate obesity of subjects. Thus, BMI<25.0 kg/m² was considered as normal weight, the range of 25.0-29.9 kg/m² as overweight, and BMI between ≥30.0-40.0 kg/m² as obese. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test. The average weekly energy consumption of office workers was calculated as 1064.4±1247.5 MET-min/wk. About 47.2% of the workers turned out to be in the ‘non active’ group, 47.0% in the ‘low level physical activity’ group, and only 5.8% displayed ‘sufficient’ physical activity. Upon gender comparison, males’ physical activity levels were found to be significantly higher than females’ (p<0.005). There were no significant relationships between physical activity level and participants’ age, working years, tobacco usage habits, and BMI. In general, physical activity levels of office workers were inadequate, but these levels were not associated with BMI-score based classification of obesity status.