The Impact Of Covid-19 On Sedentary Behavior Among Chinese College Students

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on sedentary behavior (SB) among Chinese college students. METHODS: We conducted an on-line questionnaire on 1487 (947 males & 513 females; Age 19.7 ± 1.3 yr., Height = 172.2 ± 8.2 cm, Weight = 65.9 ± 15.6 kg, BMI = 21.1 ± 4.5) college students and students retrospectively recalled pre-pandemic SB levels from one university in China during the pandemic lockdown period (Mar 29- April 15, 2020). The short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) which has been validated in China was used to measure SB. Hours of SB in the last week were collected during COVID-19 outbreak in China based on the answer to one question from the IPAQ: “During the last 7 days, how much time did you usually spend sitting on one of those day?” To create a “pre-pandemic baseline”, participants recalled hours of SB based on the answer to a new question added to the IPAQ: “how much time did you usually spend sitting on one day before COVID-19?” The data were analyzed using paired-samples t-test. RESULTS: Before COVID-19, survey participants on average engaged in 9.2 (SD =3.0) hours of SB, 9.2 (SD = 2.9) hours of SB in males, 9.3 (SD =3.2) hours of SB in females. During COVID-19, survey participants on averaged engaged in 10.2 (SD =2.7) hours of SB, 10.2 (SD = 2.7) hours of SB in male, 10.2 (SD =2.8) hours of SB in female, respectively. Overall, COVID-19 on average appeared to increase SB by 1.0 (SD =2.6) hour, an increase in daily total SB by 1.0 (SD =2.6) hour for males, and an increase 0.8 (SD =2.5) hour in females. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 lockdown was associated with an increase of SB among Chinese college students, and the impact on males was more significant than females.