ArticleBMC public health2022
Desk based prompts to replace workplace sitting with stair climbing; a pilot study of acceptability, effects on behaviour and disease risk factors.
Article in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of Occupational Health Promotion Programs on Cardiometabolic risk factors: A Systematic Review and Three-Level Meta-Analysis.La Medicina del lavoro · 2025Pooled it
- Short-term effects of brief stair climbing interruptions on postprandial hyperglycemia during prolonged sitting: a randomized cross-over trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- The acceptability of a novel seismocardiography device for measuring VOBMC public health · 2025Article
- Stair-climbing interventions on cardio-metabolic outcomes in adults: A scoping review.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2024Article
- A twin-driven analysis on early aging biomarkers and associations with sitting-time and physical activity.PloS one · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundProlonged sitting is associated with increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Occupational sitting accounts for up to 50 h/week for employees. This pilot study assessed the acceptability of stair climbing as an interruption to sitting throughout working hours, and provided preliminary data of the effects on glucose and lipid profiles.
methodsA quasi-experimental design was conducted involving 16 sedentary office workers (five females and 11 males) for intervention (n = 8) and control groups (n = 8) with mean age of 36.38 (5.58). For the eight-week intervention, a continuous four-floor stair climb and descent was performed eight times/day spread evenly over the working day. A prompt to climb was presented on the participant's computer eight times/day. Participants in the experimental group recorded daily floors climbed and steps (measured using pedometers) in a weekly log sheet. Blood samples were collected pre and post intervention to test effects on fasting glucose and 2 h plasma glucose, triglycerides, and total (TC), LDL and HDL cholesterol. Experimental participants were interviewed at the end of the study. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare the median changes (pre-post) of the dependent variables.
resultsOn average, the experimental group climbed 121 floors/week when prompted. There were significant reductions in fasting blood glucose, TC and LDL, as well as the derived measures of 'bad' cholesterol and the TC/HDL ratio in the experimental group. Post-experimental interviews indicated that the interruption to sitting was well tolerated.
conclusionPrompted stair climbing activity had impacts on health outcomes and was found acceptable to employees at work.
trial registrationEthics for this study was approved by Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Ethical Review Committee, University of Birmingham with ethics reference number ERN_15_0491.
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