Effects of the first quarantine in seated time of the Portuguese population

Abstract

Abstract Background Seating for long periods is associated with several health conditions and increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. With the COVID-19 pandemic, confinement was declared to avoid transmission. This measure affected people mobility who couldn’t leave their homes. Though the present study aims to analyze the impact of this measure on the average seated time of the Portuguese population. Methods The study was based on an online survey, approved by the IPC ethics committee, that inquired about the meantime people were seated in a weekday before and during confinement. 536 Portuguese mean aged 42.2 years (±14.8) completed the survey. The valid responses were obtained from the 18th of March till the 30th of April 2020. The data of the average seated time in the two periods before (T0) and during (T1) the quarantine was analyzed through the Wilcoxon test. Results The table displays the average value (X) and the standard derivation (SD) of the seated time in a weekday (STWD), from our study. The statistics analysis (P) between T0 and T1 are present in the same table. Conclusions The STWD showed significant differences between both periods (P < 0.001). The average time in a sited position of this population had an increase greater than 2 hours during the quarantine.