Abstract
This study aimed to verify the association of physical activity, behaviors, and health conditions with stress among a sample of older adults from Manaus, Brazil, during the COVID-19 outbreak. This is a cross-sectional analysis of 79 older adults (76% female; age: 68.24 ± 6.82 years) from Fundação Universidade Aberta da Terceira Idade (FUnATI). The perceived stress (PS) was assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale, while a questionnaire via telephone call. The variables also included physical activity, sleep quality, sociodemographic, and health condition variables. Linear Bayesian mixed-effects regression models were applied to verify the association between these correlates with PS. Older people who met the recommendations before the COVID-19 outbreak but did not meet the same recommendations during the COVID-19 outbreak have a higher PS score compared to those older people who did not meet the PA recommendations at either time. In contrast, those elderly people who met PA recommendations before and during the COVID-19 outbreak had a lower PS score compared to their peers who did not meet physical activity recommendations at either time. Those older people who did not meet the PA recommendations before the COVID-19 outbreak, but did meet the PA recommendations during the COVID-19 outbreak, did not have significant differences in the PS score compared to their peers who did not meet the PA recommendations in either moment. Sleep changes and high BMI were negatively associated with PS. The maintenance of physical activity during the pandemic was associated with lower levels of stress in older people.
Highlights
More than one year has passed since the first cases of pneumonia caused by a new viral agent called severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were reported in Wuhan, China[1]
Older people who met the recommendations before the COVID-19 outbreak but did not meet the same recommendations during the COVID-19 outbreak have a higher perceived stress (PS) score compared to those older people who did not meet the physical activity (PA) recommendations at either time
Most of the sample consisted of women, mean age of 68.24 (± 6.82) years, with sufficient financial income, classified as robust vulnerability, without pain presence, did not have difficulty sleeping, slightly do not wake up frequently, and presented two comorbidities for the sum of comorbidities (Table 1)
Summary
More than one year has passed since the first cases of pneumonia caused by a new viral agent called severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were reported in Wuhan, China[1]. The rapid increase in the number of contagions[2] and the relentless international spread of the virus has led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the so-called 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 20203. Physical activity and stress during COVID-19 outbreak contagions. At this time, in Amazonas’s State, northern Brazil, the first state decree (no 42061) came out on March 16, 2020 declaring an emergency and suspension of in person activities with the aim of preventing the transmission of the COVID-19. On March 27, 2020, the first official bulletin of the Health Surveillance Foundation (FVS) was released (80 confirmed cases in the state of Amazonas). Amazonas had the second highest incidence rate among Brazilian states, with 979 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, 4 times higher than the national average, of 245 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants; in addition, it was the state with the highest mortality (49 deaths/100 thousand inhabitants)
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