Análisis de la dieta y la adherencia a la dieta mediterránea de los Técnicos en Emergencias Sanitarias y su evolución durante la pandemia COVID-19 en relación con factores sociodemográficos y de salud

Resumen

Introduction: Emergency Medical Technicians show ahigh prevalence of overweight and obesity, which have beenrelated to a low adherence to the Mediterranean diet and sev-eral health problems.Objetives: Describe the diet and the adherence to theMediterranean diet in a sample of Emergency MedicalTechnicians in Spain and their evolution during the COVID-19pandemic considering the sociodemographic and health fac-tors related to them.Material and Methods: The participants completed anonline survey which collected: sociodemographic variables,food consumption, food choice, self-efficacy consumption offruits and vegetables, changes in diet during the pandemic,sleep quality and stress symptoms. Adherence to theMediterranean diet and the relationship between these vari-ables were calculated.Results: 340 professionals participated. Less than 25%met the recommended intake of vegetables, fruits and ce-reals, and less than 35%, the intake of confectionery, redmeat and nuts. Technicians with a low adherence to theMediterranean diet chose less healthy dishes (p<0.001)and had lower self-efficacy (p<0.001). Besides, technicianswhose diet quality got worse during the pandemic pre-sented poorer sleep quality (p=0.025) and more stresssymptoms (p<0.001).Discussion: Emergency Medical Technicians show a lowadherence to the Mediterranean diet, which was associatedwith a low self-efficacy and poor food choices.Conclusions: Interventions to improve Emergency MedicalTechnicians’ diet quality should focus on improving their self-efficacy, food choice, sleep quality and stress levels.