ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG MALAYSIAN ADULTS DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Physical inactivity was recognized as the fourth risk factor of death and the current Covid-19 pandemic had increased the probability of society becoming less physically active. These contributed to adverse mental changes. Therefore, our main objective was to study the association of physical activity and mental health among adults in Malaysia during Covid-19. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey and 1161 Malaysian adults were recruited in the study. DASS 21 and IPAQ 7 questionnaires were used to access their mental health and physical activity among adults in Malaysia. A total of 1161 participants (267 males and 894 female) were included in the study. Overall, there were participants having average depression score of 1.55 (SD=1.54) that comprises of normal (40.1%), mild (11.7%), moderate (19.7%), severe (9.8%) and extremely severe (18.6%). As for anxiety, the average is 1.96 (SD=1.65) that included normal (33.5%), mild (6.9%), moderate (20.4%), severe (8.3%) and extremely severe (30.9%). The average for stress-induced participants was 0.93 (SD=1.31) that consisted of normal (59.9%), mild (10.9%), moderate (11.7%), severe (10.9%) and extremely severe (6.5%). There was a significant association of depression, anxiety and stress levels (DASS-21) with age (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001) and employment status (p<0.001). There was no significant association between low, moderate and high physical activity with levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Instead, there was significance association between level of depression, anxiety and stress towards sociodemographic characteristic such as age, marital status and employment status.