Physical activity changes among office workers during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the agreement between objective and subjective physical activity metrics

Abstract

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many office workers transitioned to working-from-home (WFH) which altered routine physical activity (PA). To understand how these workers’ PA were affected throughout the pandemic, PA data collected in January, April, June, and December 2020 with an activity tracker and a validated survey were analyzed. Between January and December, it was found that step counts during the weekday decreased (p < 0.01), weekday heart rate was higher than weekends (p < 0.01), activity-tracker and self-reported PA decreased (p < 0.01), and sitting time increased (p < 0.01). To understand the agreement between the objective and subjective METs, Bland-Altman analyses were completed and demonstrated an acceptable level of agreement. Findings show decreased level of PA amongst WFH office workers and that the activity tracker and survey are reliable methods of recording WFH PA.