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Published on: March 7, 2019
The relationship between physical activity and severity of COVID-19 symptoms in non-hospitalized individuals
Alexandros Mitropoulos1, Simon Goodwill2, Robert Copeland2
1Lifestyle, Exercise and Nutrition Improvement (LENI) Research Group, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health Wellbeing and Life Science, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Background:
The study explored the relationship between physical activity (PA) behaviour and severity of symptoms in people infected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods:
Five hundred and thirty-three people [16% males, mean age: 45 ± 11 years, body mass index (BMI): 23.3 ± 20] took part in the study. All participants were post-COVID-19 infection. An online questionnaire was used to gather data on; participants demographics, comorbidities and treatment, symptomatology of COVID-19, quality of life (QoL) and pre- and post-COVID-19 infection PA.
Results:
Logistic regression revealed that only a high BMI (>25) increased the severity of (odds ratio 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.99-1.03) symptoms from none to mild-to-moderate. Weekly PA behaviour (min/week) did not affect the primary outcome (symptom severity) as a predictor variable and neither differ (P > 0.05) between symptomatology for both moderate (no symptoms: 181.3 ± 202.1 vs. mild-to-moderate symptoms: 173 ± 210.3) and vigorous (no symptoms: 89.2 ± 147 vs. mild-to-moderate symptoms: 88.9 ± 148.3) PA. QoL (i.e. mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression and perceived health) was significantly (P < 0.05) worse post-COVID-19 infection.
Conclusions:
Our findings did not present an association between PA levels and mild-to-moderate COVID-19 symptoms. However, all participants exceeded the lower limit of the World Health Organization recommended, adult PA dose. This might explain the lack of PA effect, on mild-to-moderate symptoms post-COVID-19 infection. Future studies should explore the effects of PA levels in more severe cases (e.g. hospitalizations) and assess the effectiveness of PA to reduce hospitalizations, and mortality rates as a result of COVID-19 infection.
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