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Negative Effects of COVID-19 in Hypertensive and Diabetic Patients: A Pre-Post Study

Soledad Gómez-Escalonilla Lorenzo1,2, Isabel Martínez3, Blanca Notario Pacheco4,5

  • 1University of Castilla-La Mancha Cuenca Spain.

Health Science Reports
|June 22, 2026
PubMed

Insights

COVID-19 restrictions negatively impacted chronic disease management, reducing physical activity (PA), treatment adherence, and quality of life. Maintaining higher PA levels helped mitigate some adverse effects on patients with hypertension and diabetes.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Chronic Disease Management
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • COVID-19 pandemic restrictions significantly impacted global populations, especially individuals with chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
  • Lifestyle changes during the pandemic potentially disrupted effective disease management strategies.
  • This study investigated the link between reduced physical activity (PA) and its effects on clinical parameters, treatment adherence, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the association between decreased physical activity (PA) and changes in physical parameters, treatment adherence, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with chronic conditions.
  • To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures on the health outcomes of individuals with hypertension and diabetes.
  • To identify if higher physical activity levels can mitigate negative health consequences observed post-lockdown.

Main Methods:

  • A pre-post study design was employed, collecting data from March 2019 to June 2021 in central Spain.
  • 152 patients with chronic conditions had clinical parameters (blood pressure, BMI, HbA1c), PA levels, treatment adherence, and HRQoL (SF-12) measured before and after the COVID-19 lockdown.
  • Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to compare mean differences across PA quartiles, controlling for age and sex.

Main Results:

  • One year post-lockdown, participants exhibited increased systolic blood pressure and significant decreases in PA, treatment adherence, and mental HRQoL.
  • The lowest PA quartile was associated with the poorest outcomes, including a mean difference of -8.13 in mental HRQoL and -4.80 in adherence.
  • Conversely, participants with high PA showed an improvement in treatment adherence (mean difference = 1.69).

Conclusions:

  • Negative health consequences of the pandemic lockdown persist one year later in this patient population.
  • Higher physical activity levels were associated with mitigating some of these adverse effects.
  • Causal interpretations require caution due to the study's observational design.
Abstract

Keywords:
COVID‐19diabetes mellitushealth‐related quality of lifehypertensionphysical activitytreatment adherence

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