title: Associations between occupational indicators and total, work-based and leisure-time sitting: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A better understanding of how occupational indicators (e.g. job type, doing shift-work, hours worked, physical demand) influence sitting time will aid in the design of more effective health behaviour interventions. The aim of the study was to examine the associations between several occupational indicators and total, occupational and leisure-time sitting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional self-report data was collected in November 2011 from 1194 participants through a telephone interview in regional Queensland, Australia (response rate was 51.9%). The Workforce Sitting Questionnaire was used to measure sitting time. Multiple logistic regression was applied to examine associations between sitting time and occupational indicators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of all participants 77.9% were employed full-time, 72.7% had white-collar jobs, 35.7% were engaged in shift-work, 39.5% had physically demanding jobs, and 53.2% had high total sitting time (>8 hours a day). Those in physically demanding and blue-collar occupations were less likely to report high total (physically demanding: OR = 0.41,95% CI = 0.29-0.58; blue-collar: OR = 0.55,95% CI = 0.37-0.82) and occupational (physically demanding: OR = 0.26,95% CI = 0.14-0.24; blue-collar: OR = 0.32,95% CI = 0.21-0.49) sitting time compared to those in physically undemanding and white-collar occupations respectively. Working more than 8 hours per day was inversely associated with high leisure-time sitting (OR = 0.44,95% CI = 0.29-0.68). No evidence for 'compensation' effects, where lower occupational sitting is compensated with higher leisure-time sitting, was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Behaviour change interventions are needed to reduce sitting time as a means to prevent chronic disease. Workplace initiatives to reduce sitting time may be particularly important among individuals employed in white-collar and physical undemanding occupations, although other intervention strategies targeting leisure-time sitting are also required.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Social Science Research, Building 18, Bruce Highway, 4702 Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. c.vandelanotte@cqu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Corneel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vandelanotte
authors.forename: Mitch J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rockloff
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ronan
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Happell
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Milia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult