Health and Wellness Characteristics of Employees Enrolled in a Workplace Wellness Study in the United Arab Emirates: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Modifiable health behaviors have the power to increase (or decrease) the risk of chronic diseases, impacting a population’s health and life span. Health and wellness programs can potentially play a major role in initiating and supporting positive changes in health behaviors, which may lead to improving an individual’s health span and reducing the risk of premature mortality. A better understanding of the health and well-being status of the population is crucial to the design of proper and effective interventions. This study aimed to describe the health and well-being status of a cohort of 123 employees in the United Arab Emirates. Methods and analysis: This study reports the demographic characteristics, body composition, cardiovascular fitness, functional fitness, biological age, and well-being of 123 employees from a large health sector company enrolled in a workplace wellness study in the United Arab Emirates. Employees were invited to participate in an intervention that was designed to validate the efficacy of weekly health and wellness challenges. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the employees' distribution. Results: The mean age of participants was 39.2 years old, 80% of them were non-Emirati, and the majority were from Middle-Eastern and South Asian ethnicities. The prevalence of overweight, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, prediabetes, diabetes was 35%, 29%, 34%, 79%, 30%, 7%, respectively. Almost half of the participants (47%) were prehypertensive for systolic blood pressure, 80% had fitness category of poor-very poor, and majority (60%) reported exercising <150 minutes/week. The mean functional fitness score was 12.2 points, which indicated an increased risk of injury with physical activity. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that despite the advancements in healthcare in the UAE, several key preventable risk factors are still prevalent in its population. The introduction of health and wellness programs can support healthier lifestyles to achieve improvements in quality of life and health expectancy among the UAE population.