Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Nutritional Status and Lipid Profile of Employees in a Teaching Hospital in Rome: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Abstract

Background: on the 9 March 2020, the Italian government declared a state of lockdown on the entire national territory aimed at reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, causing strong repercussions for people’s lifestyles. The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of the lockdown on the nutritional status and lipid profile of employees of an Italian teaching hospital. Methods: an observational retrospective cohort study was carried out at the Department of Occupational Medicine of the Umberto I General Hospital of Rome, including all employees who underwent two consecutive occupational medical examinations before and after the first lockdown (9 March 2020–18 May 2020). Employee medical records were used as a data source. Results: 1014 employees were involved in the study (50.6% nurses, 31% physicians, 14.8% technical staff, 3.6% administrative staff). Post lockdown BMI, total cholesterol and LDL values increased statistically significantly compared to pre lockdown ones. Nurses showed a significant association with increased BMI (p < 0.001), while workers with heart disease were inversely associated with total cholesterol (p < 0.001) and LDL (p < 0.001). Conclusion: this study showed that lockdown had a significant impact on employees’ lifestyles. Further studies are needed to understand changes in health-related behaviors, such as diet and physical activity, of specific categories of workers over time under lockdown conditions.