Abstract
Background: With increasing work pace and stress, sedentary office habits and insufficient physical activity (PA) pose significant threats to employee health and organizational productivity. Physical activity-led workplace health interventions (PAWHIs) have gained attention due to their multifaceted benefits for employees' physical and mental health. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of PAWHIs and examine the success rates of PA combined with various supplementary intervention approaches in improving employee health. Methods: This study was conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 statement guidelines. A systematic search was performed across four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Scopus) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2013 and 2023. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. Results: After screening, 40 studies meeting the criteria were finally identified and subjected to quality assessment. The primary intervention measures of PAWHIs focused on education, physical activity, and dietary interventions. Fifty percent of the studies adopted multimodal combined intervention schemes involving two or more types of interventions. The most common intervention durations were 12 weeks (9 studies) and 24 weeks (24 studies). An analysis of the various intervention effects of PAWHIs revealed that the most successfully improved outcomes were increased physical activity levels (26/32), reduced psychological stress (4/5), and improved dietary habits (12/19), with over 60% of the related studies reporting positive effects. Additionally, improvements were also commonly observed in body composition (16/29) and clinical health outcomes (15/27). Conclusions: PAWHIs have positive effects on improving employee health status and promoting healthy behaviors, particularly in increasing PA levels and reducing psychological stress. However, interventions need to be contextualized and further optimized to achieve more comprehensive and sustainable health outcomes.