Factors associated with health workers’ quality of diet during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The study characterized the quality of the diet of healthcare workers at a teaching hospital in Pelotas-RS, Brazil, after the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, between October and December 2020. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,159 hospital workers, assessing their food frequency in the last week and examining the association between sociodemographic, behavioral, and occupational factors and the Diet Quality Index using multinomial logistic regression. Female respondents (OR = 1.58), those aged 50 or older (OR = 3.70), with more years of schooling (OR = 1.32), and physically active individuals (OR = 5.37) had better diet quality. Conversely, those with high alcohol consumption (OR = 0.39), support workers (security, cleaning, and maintenance) (OR = 0.36), and those who ate their meals on the street (restaurants, snack bars) (OR = 0.40) had poorer diet quality. During the pandemic, 48.7% reported weight gain, 25% reported a deterioration in diet quality, and 43.1% reported an increase in the quantity of food consumed. The prevalence of overweight was 63.4%. Workers consumed both healthy and unhealthy foods, and the pandemic negatively impacted diet quality.