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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Apr 6;20(1):147.
doi: 10.1186/s12916-022-02343-y.

The UK Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and diet, physical activity, and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from eight longitudinal population surveys

Bożena Wielgoszewska #  1 , Jane Maddock #  2 , Michael J Green #  3 , Giorgio Di Gessa #  4 , Sam Parsons #  1 , Gareth J Griffith  5 , Jazz Croft  5 , Anna J Stevenson  6 , Charlotte Booth  1 , Richard J Silverwood  1 , David Bann  1 , Praveetha Patalay  1   7 , Alun D Hughes  7 , Nishi Chaturvedi  7 , Laura D Howe  4 , Emla Fitzsimons  1 , Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi  3 , George B Ploubidis  8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The UK Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and diet, physical activity, and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from eight longitudinal population surveys

Bożena Wielgoszewska et al. BMC Med. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: In March 2020, the UK implemented the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) to minimise job losses. Our aim was to investigate associations between furlough and diet, physical activity, and sleep during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We analysed data on 25,092 participants aged 16-66 years from eight UK longitudinal studies. Changes in employment, including being furloughed, were based on employment status before and during the first lockdown. Health behaviours included fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and sleep. Study-specific estimates obtained using modified Poisson regression, adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and pre-pandemic health and health behaviours, were statistically pooled using random effects meta-analysis. Associations were also stratified by sex, age, and education.

Results: Across studies, between 8 and 25% of participants were furloughed. Compared to those who remained working, furloughed workers were slightly less likely to be physically inactive (RR = 0.85; [95% CI 0.75-0.97]; I 2 = 59%) and did not differ overall with respect to low fruit and vegetable consumption or atypical sleep, although findings for sleep were heterogenous (I 2 = 85%). In stratified analyses, furlough was associated with lower fruit and vegetable consumption among males (RR = 1.11; [1.01-1.22]; I 2 = 0%) but not females (RR = 0.84; [0.68-1.04]; I 2 = 65%). Considering changes in quantity, furloughed workers were more likely than those who remained working to report increases in fruit and vegetable consumption, exercise, and hours of sleep.

Conclusions: Those furloughed exhibited similar health behaviours to those who remained in employment during the initial stages of the pandemic. There was little evidence to suggest that adoption of such social protection policies in the post-pandemic recovery period and during future economic crises had adverse effects on population health behaviours.

Keywords: Employment; Exercise; Fruit and vegetable consumption; Furlough; Health behaviours; Sleeping.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest were declared by BW, JM, MJG, GDG, SP, GJG, JC, AJS, CB, RJS, DB, PP, LDH, EF, and GBP. SVK is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies subgroup on ethnicity and COVID-19 and is co-chair of the Scottish Government’s Ethnicity Reference Group on COVID-19. NC serves on a data safety monitoring board for trials sponsored by Astra-Zeneca. ADH serves on the PHOSP COVID Cardiovascular Working group.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percent distribution of change in employment status during the pandemic by study. Additional file 1: Table 1 has details of each study’s sample design and weighting applied. Analysis for GS, USOC, and ELSA restricted to participants aged 66 and younger. For more information about the questions asked in each dataset to derive changes in economic activity, please see Additional file 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Associations between economic activity and health behaviours in pooled analyses across eight UK longitudinal studies. ‘Basic’ adjustment includes age, sex, ethnicity, education, UK nation, and household composition. ‘Full’ adjustment additionally includes pre-pandemic measures of mental health, self-rated health, diet, exercise, and sleep
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Associations between economic activity and health behaviours stratified by age, sex, and educational attainment. *No I 2 value as only one study was able to provide an estimate
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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