Metabolic and mental health trends by profession among military health-care workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Military health-care workers (HCWs) played a key role in Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They experienced substantial occupational stress and prolonged frontline exposure to the disease. Therefore, this study evaluated the relationships among the sociodemographics, lifestyle factors, metabolic and mental health of military HCWs stratified by profession during the pandemic. This was a population-based and prospective cohort study. A total of 664 military HCWs in 2019 were included. Professions were categorized as nurses, physicians, or other HCWs. The results revealed that older nurses had a greater risk of developing MetS (β = 0.117, p = 0.013) and higher BSRS-5 scores (β = 0.076, p = 0.002) during this period. In addition, nurses had more favorable metabolic health during the pandemic period. However, they reported higher levels of sleep disturbance than physicians and other HCWs did at the onset of the pandemic did ( F = 5.41, p = 0.005). Although nurses reported significantly higher levels of sleep disturbance, nurses who engaged in more physical activity reported significantly lower total BSRS-5 scores. In this way, sleep health is a concern for nurses. Nursing leaders should encourage nurses’ physical activity to maintain metabolic health and reduce sleep disturbance to contribute to mental health during prolonged public health crises.