Not on the radar: active commuting as a workplace wellness issue

Details

• Personal Author:
  Buchanan S ; Forst L ; Tran M
• Description:
  Costs attributed to obesity represent up to 8% of the total health care expenditures of US businesses. Overweight or obese employees have higher sick leave and disability use, and workplace injuries are higher for employees with higher body mass indexes. Among men, any active commuting-defined as walking, biking, or taking public transit-is associated with a reduced likelihood of obesity (odds ratio, 0.50; 95% confidence interval, 0.33 to 0.76). Active commuting that incorporates walking and cycling is associated with an 11% reduction in cardiovascular risk. Meanwhile, each additional hour per day spent in a car increases the odds of obesity by 6%. Currently, however, 91% of American workers use an automobile to get to work. Workplace wellness programs have commonly addressed weight loss, smoking cessation, nutrition, and leisure time physical activity. It is unknown how many offer incentives toward or support for active commuting. We conducted a study to characterize the knowledge and attitudes about commuting among workplace wellness leaders. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Body Weight Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Demography Health Promotion Men Occupational Health Safety Smokers Women
• Keywords:
  Body-weight Cardiovascular-function Cardiovascular-system Cardiovascular-system-disease Cardiovascular-system-disorders Demographic-characteristics Health-programs Humans Injuries Nutrition Physical-exercise Physical-fitness Physiology Smoking Weight-factors Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  57
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046690
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2015 Sep; 57(9):e91-e92
• Contact Point Address:
  Molly Tran, MD, MPH, 180 Fort Washington Ave, Harkness Pavilion, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10032
• Email:
  Mkt9004@nyp.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5e7bd8f3b60c8272593337af4814e8c41032e9a0638b2076fe32bac796a12d2e80094e4b4f66455c37d66430ba45031482315f7b7dc279dc02388bb9dd9750de
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202041/cdc_202041_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 585.80 KB ]