Study Revealed Low CRF in Youth Tied to Decreased Work Ability in Adulthood

According to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in youth may affect work ability in adulthood. In this research, researchers tried to understand whether low CRF in youth decreases work ability in adulthood.  

This study was commenced in 1976 and conducted in 2021 by the University of Jyväskylä. Researchers involved 1207 individuals in Finland consisting of 579 males and 628 females. These participants were tracked carefully from their youth to early and late middle age for 45 years. 

Researchers focused on collected data of participant’s cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), musculoskeletal fitness (MF), and body mass index (BMI) during adolescence (age 12 to 19 years). This data helped researchers understand the physical health of these participants. They assessed to test these participants’ workability at the ages of 37 to 44 years and ages 57 to 64 years. This assessment was designed by using the International Fitness Test Guidelines. 

The results of this assessment showed that the work ability of males and females with low CRF decreased in early middle age as it was 18% (134 male) and 16.8% (140 female) respectively. When studied the results for late middle age, researchers observed that 56.7% of the participants (436) were doing low physical activity demanding jobs. On the other hand, only 108 participants (14.1% of the participants) were doing high physical activity demanding jobs. 

But according to the results of this assessment, musculoskeletal fitness and body mass index did not show any effect on work ability of participants in early and late middle age. Even though muscle mass and body fat are important parts of physical fitness, they could not effectively predict long term work ability as CRF. 

The results of this study clearly show that CRF can accurately predict future work ability. This study will help healthcare professionals make effective strategies and treatments to improve CRF during adolescence and early adulthood to increase the productivity rate in old age. The study also shows that there is a need to make some policies and initiatives that will promote physical fitness from a young age.  

Reference Link:  

Perttu T. T. Laakso et al, Adolescent Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Future Work Ability, JAMA Network Open (2024). 

DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.3861