Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Mar 20, 2025
Date Accepted: Jul 25, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Cardiometabolic workplace health interventions for blue-collar workers: A scoping review protocol
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cardiometabolic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes mellitus (DM), represent a global health issue, causing significant premature mortality and disability. Blue-collar workers, who often face a higher exposure to risk factors (e.g., smoking, poor diet, lack of physical activity), are particularly vulnerable to these diseases. Workplace health promotion plays a crucial role in mitigating this risk, yet the scope and the characteristics of interventions targeting this specific workforce remain unclear.
Objective:
The objective of this scoping review will be to assess the extent and characteristics of workplace health promotion interventions aimed at preventing cardiometabolic diseases and their risk factors in blue-collar workers.
Methods:
The review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. A search of MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, and the Cochrane Database as well as grey literature will be conducted. The search strategy is designed to capture relevant studies published since 2014 in English, Spanish, Italian, and Polish. Study designs eligible include randomized controlled trials, observational studies, qualitative research, and mixed-method approach as well as other formats present in grey literature (e.g., reports). This review will include studies focusing on health promotion interventions involving adult blue-collar workers (>18 years) currently employed, with at least 60% of participants being blue-collar employees. The interventions of interest are workplace health promotion strategies targeting cardiometabolic diseases or risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, and smoking. Each paper retrieved will be screened for inclusion by at least two reviewers. Disagreements between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion with the other reviewers. Studies focusing on non-interventional contexts, mental health, or ergonomic safety will be excluded. Data will be extracted and analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods, with a focus on intervention types, participant characteristics, and outcomes.
Results:
The study began in March 2024 and the full scoping review report is expected to be ready in September 2025.
Conclusions:
The scoping review presented in this protocol can contribute to filling the knowledge gap by mapping the current state of workplace health promotion interventions aimed at preventing CVD and DM and modifying relevant risk factors in the blue-collar workers group. Clinical Trial: This study's protocol was registered in the Open Science Framework database (registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/HDRQ4).
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