Association of working conditions including digital technology use and systemic inflammation among employees: study protocol for a systematic review

The objective of this investigation will be to evaluate the association of working conditions including digital technology use and systemic inflammation among employees.MethodsWe designed and registered a study protocol for a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and prospective non-randomized studies (e.g., cohort, interrupted time series, or before-after studies). We will include studies conducted among adult workers reporting associations of working conditions and inflammatory activity. The outcome will be biomarkers of systemic low-grade inflammation on cell, plasma molecule and intracellular level, such as C-reactive protein, or different types of leukocytes, cytokines, etc. Literature searches will be conducted in several electronic databases (from January 1982 onwards), including PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CENTRAL. Two reviewers will independently screen all retrieved records, full-text articles, and extract data. The study methodological quality (or bias) will be appraised using appropriate tools. Our results will be described qualitatively. Random effects meta-analysis will be conducted, if feasible and appropriate. Additional analyses will be performed to explore potential sources of heterogeneity.DiscussionThis systematic review and meta-analysis will provide a synthesis of studies evaluating the association of working conditions and systemic inflammation. We anticipate our findings to identify knowledge gaps in the literature...
Source: Systematic Reviews - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research