Physical capacity and quality of life in the workers - Abstract

Aim. To study the relationship between physical capacity (PC) by calculated VO2max and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the administrative workers of a university.

Method. A cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study in 147 middle-aged adults, grouped into three strata: low PC < 6.0 metabolic units (METs) to moderate PC between 6.1 and 9.0 METs, and adequate PC > 9.1 METs. We evaluated the HRQOL-SF-12 and PC (Questionnaire-PAR-PAF) with health status indicators.

Results. Average age of the groups was 35.0 ± 9.7 years (p = 0.95). PC was 9.6 ± 2.8 METs in women and 9.1 ± 2.8 in men (p = 0.199). Significant differences in PC were found in the domains of physical function, general health and the physical construct summary (PCS-12) in women (p <0.05). The correlation between the result of (PCS-12) and FC (r = 0.45, p <0.001) stand out. Finally, better HRQL scores were observed in the group having adequate PC in both constructs and genders.

Conclusions. We found that the subjects with higher PC have better HRQOL in the population studied.