Abstract
Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has long-lasting effects on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior in the vulnerable older adult population is uncertain. A total of 387 older adults (75 ± 6 years) completed a retrospective questionnaire on time spent sitting, walking, and performing aerobic and muscle-strengthening PA before, during the first three months, and one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether the participants met the aerobic and muscle-strengthening PA guidelines was then determined. Of the 387 older adults, 376 (97%) were vaccinated. The participants completed 361 ± 426, 293 ± 400, and 454 ± 501 min/week of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic PA before, during the first three months, and one year into the pandemic, respectively. During the same time periods, the participants performed muscle-strengthening PA 87 ± 157, 68 ± 163, and 90 ± 176 min/week, walked 2.4 ± 1.7, 2.3 ± 1.7, and 2.6 ± 1.9 h/day, and sat 6.2 ± 2.9, 7.4 ± 3.1, and 6.1 ± 2.9 h/day, respectively. Aerobic PA, muscle-strengthening PA, and walking time decreased, whereas sitting time increased, during the first three months of the pandemic (p < 0.05), and then returned to pre-pandemic levels after one year (p < 0.05). The percentage of participants meeting both aerobic and muscle-strengthening PA guidelines decreased during the first three months of the pandemic (48.9% to 33.5%, p < 0.001), but returned to pre-pandemic levels one year later (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly decreased PA and increased sitting time in older adults; however, both PA and sitting time returned to pre-pandemic levels after one year.
Highlights
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) a global pandemic
The benefits of physical activity for COVID-19 may be related to how regular physical activity impacts multiple health domains that are related to COVID-19 risk, such as improving cardiovascular health [7], lowering systemic inflammation [8,9], improving immune health [10,11], and lowering obesity [12]
Data were collected as part of the Physical Activity and Aging Study (PAAS), an ongoing prospective cohort of men and women at least 65 years old conducted in Ames, Iowa, United States
Summary
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. Several countries enacted mitigation strategies to reduce transmission such as physical distancing, stay-at-home orders, and the closing of non-essential businesses. The implementation of such strategies reduced the transmission of COVID-19 [1]; they drastically altered day-to-day life, impacting normal activities such as physical activity. Meeting the physical-activity guidelines or performing regular physical activity extends additional health benefits for COVID-19 as recent data suggest that these individuals have a lower risk of infection, hospitalization, intensive-care-unit admission, and mortality from COVID-19 [4–6]. The benefits of physical activity for COVID-19 may be related to how regular physical activity impacts multiple health domains that are related to COVID-19 risk, such as improving cardiovascular health [7], lowering systemic inflammation [8,9], improving immune health [10,11], and lowering obesity [12]. Reduced physicalactivity levels during the initial stages of the pandemic have been reported globally and across all age groups [13–17]
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