title: The association of self-reported employee physical activity with metabolic syndrome, health care costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine employees' self-reported physical activity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) risks and their association with health-related workplace outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Employees participated in a health risk appraisal in 2010. Generalized Linear Modeling was used to test the association between MetS risk factors, physical activity, and the outcome measures while controlling for confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MetS was found in 30.2% of employees. Health care costs for employees with MetS who reported sufficient exercise (150 or more minutes/week) totaled $2770 compared with $3855 for nonsufficient exercisers. The percentage of employees with MetS who had absenteeism and presenteeism was also significantly lower for employees achieving sufficient physical activity. All risk factors for MetS were mitigated for regular exercisers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Employers should consider programs and services to support regular aerobic exercise to address the growing prevalence and costs of MetS in the workforce.
authors.affiliation: From the University of Illinois at Chicago (Dr Burton); American Express Company (Dr Burton), New York, NY; University of Michigan Health Management Research Center (Dr Chen, Li, and Schultz), Ann Arbor; and Akershus Universitetssykehus (Dr Abrahamsson), Sykehusveien, Loerenskog, Norway.
authors.forename: Wayne N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.forename: Chin-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xingquan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Alyssa B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abrahamsson
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009043:Motor Activity; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology