Dietary Patterns, Occupational Stressors and Body Composition of Hospital Workers: A Longitudinal Study Comparing before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Carlos Rodrigo Nascimento de Lira, Rita de Cássia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu, Lorene Gonçalves Coelho, Renata Puppin Zandonadi () and Priscila Ribas de Farias Costa ()
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Carlos Rodrigo Nascimento de Lira: School of Nutrition, Federal University of Bahia, Avenida Araújo Pinho, n°32, Canela, Salvador CEP 40110-150, Brazil
Rita de Cássia Coelho de Almeida Akutsu: Department of Nutrition, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, University of Brasilia, Asa Norte, Distrito Federal, Brasília CEP 70910-900, Brazil
Lorene Gonçalves Coelho: Health Science Centre, Federal University of Recôncavo of Bahia, Avenida Carlos Amaral, n°1015, Cajueiro, Santo Antônio de Jesus CEP 44430-622, Brazil
Renata Puppin Zandonadi: Department of Nutrition, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, University of Brasilia, Asa Norte, Distrito Federal, Brasília CEP 70910-900, Brazil
Priscila Ribas de Farias Costa: School of Nutrition, Federal University of Bahia, Avenida Araújo Pinho, n°32, Canela, Salvador CEP 40110-150, Brazil

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: This longitudinal study aimed to evaluate the association between dietary patterns and the body composition of hospital workers subjected to occupational stressors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on sociodemographic, occupational, lifestyle, anthropometric, food consumption and occupational stress were collected before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 218 workers from a private hospital in Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Brazil were included in the study. After evaluating the normality of the data, parametric or non-parametric tests were used to characterize the sample. Dietary pattern was defined with Exploratory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the desired association. During the pandemic, work per shift increased by 8.2% ( p = 0.004) and working hours > 40 h/week increased by 9.2% ( p = 0.006). Despite the higher prevalence of low occupational stress (85.8% vs. 72.1%), high stress increased by 13.7% from 2019 to 2020 ( p < 0.001) and 30.3% reported a positive mediating effect on the variables of body composition, body mass index (b = 0.478; p < 0.001), waist circumference (b = 0.395; p = 0.001), fat-free mass (b = 0.440; p = 0.001) and fat mass (b = −0.104; p = 0.292). Therefore, a dietary pattern containing high-calorie foods was associated with changes in the body composition of hospital workers, including occupational stressors as mediators of this relationship.

Keywords: occupational stress; food pattern; body composition; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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