Working from home in the context of COVID-19: A systematic review of physical and mental health effects on teleworkers

Introduction: Working from home (WFH) has been endorsed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic for all cadre of workers. This study aimed to describe the mental and physical negative effects of WFH among workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A rapid systematic review of literature was conducted on PubMed/Medline using pre-defined se-arch terms. For inclusion in this rapid review, studies were required to focus only on previously healthy adults, white collar/professional employees, and teachers (full-time or part-time) working from home during working hours, and to include mental or physical health related outcomes of workers. Data extraction was carried out using a standardized form and included country of study, study design, details of participants, industry setting, measure used, and health outcome of interest. Overall, 1,447 articles were retrieved, and 15 of these were included in the systematic review. Results: Physical effects of WFH included reduced physical activity, increased consumption of junk food, weight gain, poor sleep quality, and musculoskeletal pain. Mental effects of WFH included increased levels of anxiety, depression, stress, headache, fatigue, and lower job satisfaction. Furthermore, a significant decline in workplace comfort resulted in a reduction in workers’ efficiency and job satisfaction. Discussion and Conclusions: Due to the rapid stay-at-home recommendations required to break the chain of COVID-19 pandemic, WFH became pertinent for many categories of workers. Therefore, it is required that everyone identifies context-based strategies for healthy coping in ways that do not alter work functioning.