ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a period of contingency measures, including total or partial lockdowns all over the world leading to several changes in lifestyle/eating behaviours. This retrospective cohort study aimed at investigating Italian adult population lifestyle changes during COVID-19 pandemic "Phase 1" lockdown (8 March-4 May 2020) and discriminate between positive and negative changes and BMI (body mass index) variations (ΔBMI). METHODS: A multiple-choice web-form survey was used to collect retrospective data regarding lifestyle/eating behaviours during "Phase 1" in the Italian adult population. According to changes in lifestyle/eating behaviours, the sample was divided into three classes of changes: "negative change", "no change", "positive change". For each class, correlations with ΔBMI were investigated. RESULTS: Data were collected from 1304 subjects (973F/331M). Mean ΔBMI differed significantly (p < 0.001) between classes, and was significantly related to water intake, alcohol consumption, physical activity, frequency of "craving or snacking between meals", dessert/sweets consumption at lunch. CONCLUSIONS: During "Phase 1", many people faced several negative changes in lifestyle/eating behaviours with potential negative impact on health. These findings highlight that pandemic exacerbates nutritional issues and most efforts need to be done to provide nutrition counselling and public health services to support general population needs.
Subject(s)
Body Mass Index , COVID-19/epidemiology , Communicable Disease Control , Life Style , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Alcohol Drinking/epidemiology , COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/prevention & control , Child , Diet/psychology , Diet/statistics & numerical data , Drinking , Exercise , Female , Humans , Italy/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
Healthcare professionals are exposed to several stress factors, especially during health emergency situations like Covid-19. Psychological distress in the COVID-19 era adversely affects both healthcare professionals' mental and physical health, decreasing performance and efficiency at work. Nevertheless, no sufficient emphasis has been placed so far on the role of nutrition against stress and anxiety among healthcare professionals. Consequently, worksite health promotion approaches and interventions are highly recommended, but also National Health Systems are praised to develop strategies and policies to satisfy nutritional requirements in health emergencies such as Covid-19 pandemic. In this brief paper, the important role of nutrition during periods of stress is highlighted, providing nutritional advice to enhance resilience in this risk group. In addition, practical lifestyle and diet tips for stress management among healthcare professionals exposed to Covid-19 are reported in this mini review.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 disease is characterized by serious clinical manifestations which could require urgent hospitalization. Prolonged hospitalization, with catabolism and immobilization, induces a decrease in weight and muscle mass which can result in sarcopenia, a condition that impairs respiratory and cardiac function, worsening the prognosis. In this scenario there is an urgent need of nutritional indications aimed to prevent or contrast hospital malnutrition by improving the patient's response to therapy and to facilitate healthcare professionals in managing nutritional interventions on patients, reducing their already high workload due to the state of emergency.