Activité physique et comportements sédentaires chez les médecins généralistes : l'étude internationale COVISTRESS

Overview & Synopsis

Background: physical activity and sedentary behavior are a major challenge for general population, but also for general practitioners – with a current lack of data. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate physical activity and sedentary behavior of general practitioners, and to study sociodemographic and occupational risk and protective factors. Methods: the COVISTRESS international study is an online questionnaire using the secure REDCap® software. We collected and classified into three categories the number of hours of physical activity per week (≥2h30, <2h30, 0h/week) and the number of hours of sitting per day (≤3h, 3-8h, ≥8h/day). Regression analyses were performed to study risk and protective factors. Results: we included 444 general practitioners (33.6±6.6 years old, 58.1% men). Two-thirds (62.6%) of general practitioners were physically inactive (<2h30+0h/week), with 14.0% who did not do any physical activity at all; 26.8% had a high sedentary behavior (≥8h/day) and 44.1% a moderate sedentary behavior (3-8h/day). The risk factors of not doing any physical activity at all were being a woman (odds ratio 1.88, 95CI 1.01 to 3.23, p=0.047), working ≥45 hours per week (2.51, 1.06 to 5.94, p=0.037) and doing more than 100 consultations per week (3.08, 1.34 to 7.08, p=0.008). The risk factors of high sedentary behavior (≥8h/day) were a private practice (3.15, 1.44 to 6.90, p=0.004), with a secretariat (2.49, 1.21 to 5.12, p=0.013). Performing emergency night shifts in the hospital was a protective factor of high sedentary behavior (0.41, 0.22 to 0.75, p=0.004). Conclusion: a high proportion of general practitioners were physically inactive and spent too much time sitting. Exclusive private practice and workload seem to be major risk factors.