Assessment of cardiovascular load among hotel room cleaners

Hotel room cleaners are a vulnerable population at risk for cardiovascular disease. To evaluate their workload heart rate (HR), % heart rate reserve (%HRR), blood pressure (BP), metabolic equivalent (MET), and energy expenditure (EE) were measured over two workdays and two off-workdays. The mean age was 45.5 (SD 8.2) years with a mean 10.4 (SD 7.8) years of work experience. Mean average and peak HR, %HRR, MET, and EE were significantly higher during a workday than an off-workday for the entire work shift, first and last hour of work. Mean average HR and %HRR saw the largest increase between the lunch and post-lunch interim. One-fourth of subjects exceeded the recommended 30% HRR threshold for 8-hour shifts. Some workers experienced a substantial increase in HR and DBP over a workday indicating physiologic fatigue and thus may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and premature death due to excessive physical work demands.