Dietary differences by job type and industry among workers in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic requires people to change their lifestyles. This study aimed to examine the differences in dietary behaviors during the pandemic across job types and industries. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Novel-coronavirus and Work Project. Job type and industry were classified into 3 and 22 groups, respectively. Dietary behaviors were assessed using self-reported questionnaires regarding eating breakfast, frequency of meals, and eating fast foods. Changes in eating breakfast during the pandemic were also evaluated. Logistic regression analysis nested in the workplace prefecture was carried out and adjusted for gender, age, body mass index, presence of family members, educational background, and household income. ResultsWorkers involved in jobs that require communicating with people were more likely to skip breakfast (OR 1.17, 95%CI 1.10-1.24) and had a lower frequency of meals (OR 1.25, 95%CI 1.17-1.34) than workers engaged in desk work. Manual workers were more likely to eat fast food or meals (OR 1.10, 95%CI 1.03-1.17) than workers engaged in desk work. Workers engaged in newspaper, magazine, television, radio, advertising, and other mass media industries were more likely to skip breakfast (OR 2.43, 95%CI 1.82-3.24) and have a lower frequency of meals (OR 3.90, 95%CI 2.87-5.28) than workers in public offices and organizations. ConclusionThe tendencies of dietary behaviors across job types/industries during the pandemic were shown, partially consistent with a trend reported before the pandemic. Further studies should clarify the causes of differences in dietary behaviors among workers.