Abstract
Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global authorities have imposed rules of social distancing that directly influence overall physical activity in populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trends of changes in physical-activity levels (PALs) in adolescents and factors that may be associated with PALs among the studied boys and girls. Methods: Participants in this prospective study comprised 388 adolescents (126 females; mean age: 16.4 ± 1.9 years) from southern Croatia who were tested at a baseline (before the imposed rules of social distancing) and at a follow-up measurement (three weeks after the initiation). Baseline testing included anthropometric variables, variables of fitness status (done at the beginning of the school year), and PALs. At the follow-up, participants were tested on PALs. PALs were evaluated over an online platform using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents. Results: A significant decrease of PALs was evidenced for the total sample (t-test = 3.46, p < 0.001), which was primarily influenced by a significant decrease of PALs in boys (t-test = 5.15, p < 0.001). The fitness status (jumping capacity, abdominal strength, aerobic endurance, and anaerobic endurance) was systematically positively correlated with PALs at the baseline and follow-up among boys and girls, with the most evident association between aerobic and anaerobic endurance capacities and PALs. Correlations between anthropometric and fitness variables with changes in physical activity (e.g., the difference between baseline and follow-up PALs) were negligible. Conclusions: Differences in PAL changes between genders were probably related to the fact that PALs among boys were mostly related to participation in organized sports. Correlations between baseline fitness status and PALs indicated the importance of overall physical literacy in preserving PALs in challenging circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic observed here.
Highlights
Physical activity provides numerous benefits, including those directly related to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, colonic cancer, and obesity [1,2,3]
We hypothesized that the physical-activity levels (PALs) of adolescents would be significantly reduced as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposed social-distancing measures
Descriptive statistics for the anthropometric and fitness variables with differences between genders are presented in Supplementary Table S1
Summary
Physical activity provides numerous benefits, including those directly related to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, colonic cancer, and obesity [1,2,3]. Knowing the problems related to the lack of regular physical work (due to technological advancements) and reduced active transportation (mostly because of a busy daily schedule and distances that cannot practically be covered by active transportation), reaching an appropriate level of physical activity is an important global topic [7,8]. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global authorities have imposed rules of social distancing that directly influence overall physical activity in populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trends of changes in physical-activity levels (PALs) in adolescents and factors that may be associated with PALs among the studied boys and girls. Baseline testing included anthropometric variables, variables of fitness status (done at the beginning of the school year), and PALs. At the follow-up, participants were tested on PALs. PALs were evaluated over an online platform using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents. Correlations between baseline fitness status and PALs indicated the importance of overall physical literacy in preserving PALs in challenging circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic observed here
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