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Updated: Jul 26, 2025

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity
Published on: March 7, 2019
Physical activity and long COVID: findings from the Prospective Study About Mental and Physical Health in Adults
N Feter1, E L Caputo2, F M Delpino3
1Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Medicine School, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Objectives:
The study investigated the longitudinal association between physical activity and the risk of long COVID in patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection.
Study Design:
We analyzed longitudinal data of the Prospective Study About Mental and Physical Health cohort, a prospective cohort study with adults living in Southern Brazil.
Methods:
Participants responded to an online, self-administered questionnaire in June 2020 (wave 1) and June 2022 (wave 4). Only participants who self-reported a positive test for COVID-19 were included. Physical activity was assessed before (wave 1, retrospectively) and during the pandemic (wave 1). Long COVID was assessed in wave 4 and defined as any post-COVID-19 symptoms that persisted for at least 3 months after infection.
Results:
A total of 237 participants (75.1% women; mean age [standard deviation]: 37.1 [12.3]) were included in this study. The prevalence of physical inactivity in baseline was 71.7%, whereas 76.4% were classified with long COVID in wave 4. In the multivariate analysis, physical activity during the pandemic was associated with a reduced likelihood of long COVID (prevalence ratio [PR]: 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.69-0.99) and a reduced duration of long COVID symptoms (odds ratio: 0.44; 95% CI: 0.26-0.75). Participants who remained physically active from before to during the pandemic were less likely to report long COVID (PR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.58-0.95), fatigue (PR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.32-0.76), neurological complications (PR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.27-0.80), cough (PR: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.22-0.71), and loss of sense of smell or taste (PR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.21-0.87) as symptom-specific long COVID.
Conclusion:
Physical activity practice was associated with reduced risk of long COVID in adults.
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