@article{PrieskeDalagerLooksetal.2021,
  author    = {Prieske, Olaf and Dalager, Tina and Looks, Vanessa and Golle, Kathleen and Granacher, Urs},
  title     = {Physical fitness and psycho-cognitive performance in the young and middle-aged workforce with primarily physical versus mental work demands},
  series = {Journal of public health : from theory to practice : official organ of the Deutscher Verband f{\"u}r Gesundheitswissenschaften Public Health e.V. (DVGPH)},
  volume    = {29},
  journal   = {Journal of public health : from theory to practice : official organ of the Deutscher Verband f{\"u}r Gesundheitswissenschaften Public Health e.V. (DVGPH)},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {Berlin ; Heidelberg},
  issn      = {2198-1833},
  doi       = {10.1007/s10389-019-01099-9},
  pages     = {75 -- 84},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Aim The purpose of this study was to examine physical fitness and psycho-cognitive performance and their associations in young and middle-aged workers with primarily physical versus mental work demands. Subjects and methods Healthy young and middle-aged workers (73 men, age = 33 +/- 7 years; 75 women, age = 35 +/- 9 years) were recruited from German small-to-medium-sized enterprises (< 250 employees) and classified into groups with primarily mental (MD) or physical demands (PD) at work. Participants were tested for cardiorespiratory fitness, trunk flexor/extensor muscular endurance, handgrip strength, balance, leg muscle power, perceived stress, cognitive performance, and work ability. Results Ninety-four workers were allocated to the MD (53\% females) and 54 to the PD (46\% females) groups. The MD group showed significantly better balance, trunk extensor muscular endurance, and cognitive performance (p < 0.035, 0.35 <= d <= 0.55) and less stress compared with the PD group (p < 0.023, d = 0.38). Group-specific Spearman rank correlation analysis (r(S)) revealed significant small-to-medium-sized correlations between physical fitness and cognitive performance (- 0.205 <= r(S) <= 0.434) in the MD and PD groups. Significant small-to-medium-sized correlations were found for physical fitness and stress/work ability (0.211 <= r(S) <= 0.301) in the MD group only. Further, associations of trunk extensor muscular endurance and work ability were significantly higher in the MD group (r(S) = 0.240) compared with the PD group (r(S) = - 0.141; z = 2.16, p = 0.031). Conclusions MD workers showed better physical fitness measures (balance, trunk extensor muscular endurance) and cognitive performance and lower levels of perceived stress compared with PD workers. Small-to-medium-sized associations between physical fitness and psycho-cognitive performance measures indicate that gains in physical fitness may at least partly contribute to psycho-cognitive performance and/or vice versa, particularly in MD workers.},
  language  = {en}
}