Occupational Health Applied Infodemiological Studies of Nutritional Diseases and Disorders: Scoping Review with Meta-Analysis.

Ruben Palomo-Llinares, Julia Sánchez-Tormo, Carmina Wanden-Berghe, Javier Sanz-Valero

Journal: Nutrients 2023;15(16):3575

PMID: 37630765

Abstract

(1) Objective: to identify and review existing infodemiological studies on nutritional disorders applied to occupational health and to analyse the effect of the intervention on body mass index (BMI) or alternatively body weight (BW); (2) Methods: This study involved a critical analysis of articles retrieved from MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Latin American, and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS) and Medicina en Español (MEDES) using the descriptors "Nutrition Disorders, "Occupational Health" and "Infodemiology", applying the filters "Humans" and "Adult: 19+ years". The search was conducted on 29 May 2021; (3) Results: a total of 357 references were identified from the bibliographic database searches; after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 11 valid studies were obtained for the review. Interventions could be categorised into (1) interventions related to lifestyle, physical activity, and dietary changes through education programmes, (2) interventions associated with lifestyle, physical activity, and dietary changes through the use of telemonitoring systems or self-help applications, (3) interventions tied to lifestyle, physical activity, and dietary changes through control and/or social network support groups, and (4) interventions linked to changes in the work environment, including behavioural change training and work environment training tasks. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the heterogeneity present when analysing the results for BMI was 72% ( < 0.01), which decreased to 0% ( = 0.57) when analysing the outcomes for weight, in which case the null hypothesis of homogeneity could be accepted. In all instances, the final summary of the effect was on the decreasing side for both BMI and BW; (4) Conclusions: Despite the high heterogeneity of the results reported, the trend shown in all cases indicates that the intervention methodologies implemented by empowering individuals through Web 2.0 technologies are positive in terms of the problem of overweight. Further implementation of novel strategies to support individuals is needed to overcome obesity, and, at least in the early studies, these strategies seem to be making the necessary change.

Address: Department of Public Health and History of Science, School of Medicine, Miguel Hernandez University, 03550 Sant Joan d'Alacant, Spain.; Health and Biomedical Research Institute of Alicante (ISABIAL), Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research in the Valencian Region (FISABIO), 30010 Alicante, Spain.; National School of Occupational Medicine, Carlos III Health Institute, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
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