Assessment of Dietary Habits and Physical Activity Changes during the Full COVID-19 Curfew Period and Its Effect on Weight among Adults in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Nisreen M Abdulsalam,Leonard L Williams,Najla A Khateeb,Sarah S Aljerbi,Amira A Ayad,Waad M Alqumayzi,Atheer A Almarghlani,Shaima S Balubaid

doi:10.3390/ijerph18168580

Abstract

The World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic in March 2020. Global efforts have been made to prevent the disease from spreading through political decisions and personal behaviors, all of which rely on public awareness. The aim of our study was to examine the effect of dietary habits on weight and physical activity (PA) during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire was distributed using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp) and email communication. A total of 472 adults (age range, 18–59 years), over half of the study population (68.0%) being females, 55.5% being between 19 and 29 years old, 15.0%—between 30 and 39 years old, and 11.2%—older than 50 years old, participated in the study. Our results indicated that the overall body weight was slightly increased among the 50+ age group (47.2%, p > 0.05), but it highly increased among the 30–39-years-old age group (32.4%, p > 0.05) as compared to before the pandemic lockdown period. Therefore, our results show that a significant difference (p < 0.05) was found for all the assessments: weight status, physical activity patterns, hours spent on screen time, homemade meals, and changes in dietary habits before and during the full COVID-19 curfew period. This study demonstrated that changes in eating habits were commonly reported among the participants who represented the full COVID-19 curfew period and that changes in eating habits and decreased physical activity led to weight gain.

Highlights

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses belonging to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae of the Coronaviridae family
Our results showed that in 27.3% of the participants, body weight increased by 2–4 kg during the COVID-19 period (p > 0.05)
The number of people practicing PA at least 4 h/week before the COVID-19 pandemic decreased from 8.7% to 5.3%, while the number of people who did not do any physical activity increased from 31.6% to 35.2%

Summary

Introduction

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses belonging to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae of the Coronaviridae family. Bats, pigs, cats, dogs, rats, and poultry (domestic and wild animals) provide ideal habitats for virus production and metabolic activity. The disease range caused by coronaviruses in humans is considered to be more severe than that of the common cold, and the virus’s respiratory response syndrome can vary greatly between individuals. Coronaviruses, for example, can infect humans and animals and cause a variety of respiratory, enteral, liver, nephrotic, and neurological diseases [1]. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an acute respiratory syndrome considered a global situation. COVID-19 has spread and affected many countries and people. As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which spread rapidly to 30 million people worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared

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