Workplace Health Promotion Programs Targeting Smoking, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity in Men: A Systematic...

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Public Health Interventions
• Chronic Disease Prevention

Background:

• Workplaces offer a viable setting for health promotion programs targeting modifiable behaviors linked to chronic diseases.
• This review focuses on the effectiveness of workplace interventions aimed at smoking, nutrition, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and/or overweight and obesity in men.

Approach:

• A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted, searching five databases from January 2010 to August 2021.
• Eleven studies were included, assessing various chronic disease risk factors in men within workplace settings.
• The review utilized narrative synthesis and meta-analysis to evaluate intervention outcomes.

Key Points:

• Interventions showed improvements in snacking frequency, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, and physical activity metrics.
• Meta-analysis indicated a pooled mean decrease in body weight (-0.28 kg up to 3 months; -1.38 kg for >3 months) and BMI (-0.06 kg/m² up to 3 months; -0.27 kg/m² for >3 months).
• These positive trends were not statistically significant (p > .05).

Conclusions:

• Workplace health promotion programs demonstrate potential for addressing chronic disease risk factors in men.
• Future research should prioritize long-term study designs to robustly assess the efficacy of these programs.
• Longitudinal evidence is crucial to establish workplace interventions as a solution to the global burden of chronic disease.