Differential impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity involvements and exercise habits in people with and without chronic diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Global trends and future prospects of COVID-19 and physical activity: Bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Containment measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to drastic changes in daily life and effects on health behaviors such as decrease in physical activity (PA) levels. This study aims to present a general framework to researchers on COVID-19 and PA research in relation with changes in studies within years, current trend topics, gaps in the research field and possible future trends.

METHODS

A total of 1819 articles indexed in the WoS core collection database were analyzed according to publication year, citation, country and institution collaborations, coword, co-citation networks, concept-topic trends and topic clusters using bibliometric analysis.

RESULTS

The most productive country was the USA(n = 335), and the most productive institution was University of London in UK (n = 38). The most cited publication was the study by Ammar et al, (2020) (n = 188). In 2020, the most popular topics were PA and health meanwhile in 2021 behavior, lifestyle, social media and in 2022 habits, long COVID, sleep quality topics were in the foreground. Studies in 2023 focus on how COVID-19 affects PA habits and the associations between COVID-19-based anxiety and sleep patterns. These studies focused especially on effects of sport participation on life quality, diet, depression, mental health on young athletes, children, adolescent persons, older adult groups.

CONCLUSIONS

An important gap in the study area is research on effect of changing lifestyle due to pandemic on individuals and the society during the Post COVID-19 period. If benefits of PA will not be limited to only physical benefits and psychological emotional, cognitive and social benefits are also taken into consideration, it is important that researchers conduct long-term and widescale observations.

Obesity in children with low back pain: implications with imaging phenotypes and opioid use

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Low back pain (LBP) is common in children and adolescents, carrying substantial risk for recurrence and continuation into adulthood. Studies have linked obesity to the development of pediatric LBP; however, its association with lumbar spine degeneration, alignment parameters, and opioid use remains debated.

PURPOSE

Considering the increasing prevalence of pediatric obesity and LBP and the inherent issues with opioid use, this study aimed to assess the association of obesity with lumbar spine degeneration, spinopelvic alignment, and opioid therapy among pediatric patients.

STUDY DESIGN/SETTING

A retrospective study of pediatric patients presenting to a single institute with LBP and no history of spine deformity, tumor, or infection was performed.

PATIENT SAMPLE

A totasl of 194 patients (mean age: 16.7±2.3 years, 45.3% male) were included, of which 30 (15.5%) were obese.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Prevalence of imaging phenotypes and opioid use among obese to nonobese pediatric LBP patients. Magnetic resonance and plain radiographic imaging were evaluated for degenerative phenotypes (disc bulging, disc herniation, disc degeneration [DD], high-intensity zones [HIZ], disc narrowing, Schmorl's nodes, endplate phenotypes, Modic changes, spondylolisthesis, and osteophytes). Lumbopelvic parameters including lumbar lordosis, pelvic tilt, sacral slope, pelvic incidence and pelvic incidence-lumbar lordosis (PI-LL) mismatch were also examined.

METHODS

Demographic and clinical information was recorded, including use of opioids. The associations between obesity and lumbar phenotypes or opiod use were assessed by multiple regression models.

RESULTS

Based on multivariate analysis, obesity was significantly associated with the presence of HIZ (adjusted OR: 5.36, 95% CI: 1.30 to 22.09). Further analysis demonstrated obesity (adjusted OR: 3.92, 95% CI: 1.49 to 10.34) and disc herniation (OR: 4.10, 95% CI: 1.50 to 11.26) were associated with opioid use, independent of duration of symptoms, other potential demographic determinants, and spinopelvic alignment.

CONCLUSIONS

In pediatric patients, obesity was found to be significantly associated with HIZs of the lumbar spine, while disc herniation and obesity were associated with opioid use. Spinopelvic alignment parameters did not mitigate any outcome. This study underscores that pediatric obesity increases the risk of developing specific degenerative spine changes and pain severity that may necessitate opioid use, emphasizing the importance of maintaining healthy body weight in promoting lumbar spine health in the young.

Long-term consequences of COVID-19 on mental health and the impact of a physically active lifestyle: a narrative review

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Respiratory viruses damage not only the upper respiratory tract in humans, but also several different organs such as the brain. Some of the neurological consequences of COVID-19 reported are anosmia, headache, stroke, declined cognitive function, and impaired mental health, among others. People who had COVID-19 have a higher risk of sequelae in the central nervous system (CNS). However, it is not known which are all possible sequelae and how long will last the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavioral patterns and quality of life.

AIM

We intend to address the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on mental health and the relevance of physical exercise during the pandemic.

METHODS

We conducted a literature search using PubMed to find the articles that were related to these themes.

RESULTS

We found 23,489 papers initially, and then we applied the inclusion/exclusion criteria to narrow down our search to 3617 articles and selected 1380 eligible articles after a thorough reading of titles and abstracts. The findings indicated that COVID-19 impacted general mental health and led many not only hospitalized patients to develop cognitive decline, memory impairment, anxiety, sleep alterations, and depressive-like behavior. Furthermore, the fear of vaccines and their effects had negatively affected mental health and directly impacted mortality rates in unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Preventive measures must be undertaken, such as the vaccination of the entire population, vaccination hesitancy discouragement by creating awareness among individuals, and people's engagement in a physically active lifestyle, since being physically active is a low-cost and effective measure to restore or inhibit the negative outcomes from COVID-19 on mental health.

Physical exercise practice was positively associated with better dietary practices of aged people during COVID-19 social distance: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND & AIMS

COVID-19 is a respiratory syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2. In the absence of effective treatment and vaccines, social distance (SD) is essential to reduce the spread of the virus. However, SD generates several behavioral changes, especially in psychological (i.e., emotions and depressive symptoms) and lifestyle-related parameters (i.e., diet, physical activity, and sleep), and the aged people could be more susceptible to COVID-19 SD-related effects (i.e., loneliness, stress, fear, concerns about life, etc.). As such, we aimed to explore the relationship between lifestyle- (physical exercise practice and sleep quality) and psychological-related factors with the dietary practices derived from the Brazilian National Food Guide of older adult during the COVID-19 SD.

METHODS

A web-based survey was conducted in São Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected between August and December 2020 (a period of social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The questions were extracted from validated questionnaires to verify dietary practices (score of adhesion to the food guide for the Brazilian population), sleep quality (by Pittsburgh questionnaire), emotional food-related dimensions (by Three-factor Eating Questionnaire), and depression symptoms (by Beck's questionnaire).

RESULTS

Results were from 229 aged people (mean age 66.5 ± 6.02 years old; mean BMI 27.5 ± 4.32 kg/m²; mean sleep duration 8.23 ± 1.41 h; Pittsburg sleep quality score 6.55 ± 4.83; dietary practice score 42.5 ± 6.47). In the adjusted-linear regression model, we verified that physical exercise practice at home (β = 2.179; 95% CI: 0.599 to 3.758; p = 0.007) during COVID-19 SD was positively associated with better dietary practices in aged people. In contrast, emotional eating was negatively associated with dietary practices (β = -0.051; 95% CI: -0.092 to - 0.009; p = 0.015).

CONCLUSION

We conclude that in aged people, physical exercise practice at home during COVID-19 SD was positively associated with better dietary practices, while emotional eating was negatively associated.

Exploring the longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVE

To assess the longer term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the self-reported physical and mental health of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs).

METHODS

Two thousand twenty-four patients with IRDs were randomly selected from electronic health records. Survey invitations were sent (August 2021 coinciding with relaxation of UK COVID-19 restrictions) using SMS and postal approaches. Self-reported data included demographics, shielding status and physical (MSK-HQ) and mental health (PHQ8 and GAD7).

RESULTS

Six hundred thirty-nine people completed the survey (mean (SD) age 64.5 (13.1) years, 384 (60%) female). Moderate/severe impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health was reported by 250 (41%) and 241 (39%) respectively. One hundred seventy-two (29%) reported moderate/severe depression (PHQ8 ≥ 10) and 135 (22%) moderate/severe anxiety (GAD7 ≥ 10). Females reported greater impacts of the pandemic on physical health (44% vs 34%), mental health (44% vs 34%), arthritis symptoms (49% vs 36%) and lifestyle factors (weight gain and reduced exercise and physical activity) than males. The physical and mental impacts were less in people with RA compared with other IRDs. Physical health impacts did not differ between age groups, but younger patients reported greater impacts on mental health.

CONCLUSION

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the physical and mental health of people with IRDs. These effects were greatest in females. Recovery needs to address the negative impact of the pandemic on lifestyle factors to minimise the long-term impacts for people with IRDs. Key Points • The pandemic had a significant impact on long term physical and mental health in almost 40% of people with IRDs. • The impact of the pandemic was greater in women for physical health, mental health and arthritis symptoms. • Many people reported negative pandemic impacts on lifestyle factors including weight and physical activity.

An exploratory study to understand how people use Twitter to share experiences or information about spinal stenosis

BACKGROUND

Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal that may compress neurological tissues resulting in pain and disability. Although previous qualitative studies have solicited data regarding the life experience of patients with spinal stenosis or their opinions on relevant non-surgical treatments, their data was collected from participants in a controlled setting. Therefore, it remains unclear whether patients' or caregivers' concerns/opinions about spinal stenosis would be different in a non-experimental environment. Since Twitter is a popular online platform for people to share information and interact, it may reveal people's thoughts and attitudes about spinal stenosis. This study aimed to identify tweets that are related to spinal stenosis on Twitter, and to categorize them into common themes.

METHODS

A social media monitoring and analysis software program (TalkWalker) was used to search relevant tweets using the keywords 'spinal stenosis' and 'stenosis' between 29 May 2019 and 24 June 2020. Two independent reviewers screened and conducted content analysis of the tweets and classified the tweets into different themes.

RESULTS

Of 510 identified tweets, 362 tweets met the selection criteria. Five themes were identified: (1) compromised physical, psychological, and social wellbeing (n = 173); (2) diverse treatment options (n = 69); (3) coping strategies (n = 30); (4) dissemination of scientific information (n = 86); and (5) health policy (n = 4). Most of the tweets revealed negative impacts of spinal stenosis on patients' physical and psychosocial wellbeing. People with spinal stenosis shared their experiences and sought helps from others, while some people used Twitter to disseminate relevant information and research findings.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study exploring Twitter using an online analytical tool to identify themes related to spinal stenosis. The approach not only helps understand people's concerns about spinal stenosis in an uncontrolled environment, but also can be adopted to monitor influences of diseases or public health education on Twitter users.

Change in sports activity and walking and cycling for transport since the COVID-19 pandemic - Results of the GEDA 2021 study

Background

Physical activity is a significant health promotion behaviour. COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures, such as reducing social contact, closing sports facilities and working from home offices, may make it more difficult to engage in regular physical activity.

Methods

The data collected between July and October 2021 from the nationally representative study German Health Update (GEDA 2021) were used. The activity behaviour is described by the change in the amount of sports activity as well as the amount of physical active transport (walking/cycling) since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample comprises 2,985 participants aged 18 and older.

Results

A quarter of the population reduced their sports activity compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, while 12% increased their sports activity and 38% reported no change. In terms of physical active transport, it shows that 15% reduced the amount, 17% increased it and 55% maintained it. Compared to younger adults, older adults were more likely to maintain their activity behaviour rather than reduce or increase it.

Conclusion

Even before the pandemic, physical inactivity was common among the population. The high proportion of adults who reduced their sports activity during the pandemic underlines the need for effective measures to promote physical activity.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the proportion of physically active children and adults worldwide: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction

Safety measures implemented to address the COVID-19 pandemic have had a profound impact on the mobility of people worldwide We synthesized the global evidence on physical activity (PA) participation before and during the pandemic.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review, searching PubMed, Embase, WHO Global literature on coronavirus disease (between January 2020 and April 2022), and reference lists. Meta-analysis and meta-regression were conducted to quantitatively synthesize the data.

Results and discussion

Sixty-three primary studies were included. In children, the global pooled prevalence of PA was 46.4% before the pandemic, 40.6% during the pandemic before movement restriction (MR), and 19.5% during MR. A statistically significant decrease in prevalence was observed between the period before the pandemic and the period during which MR was implemented (p < 0.001). In adults, the global pooled prevalence (both sexes) decreased between the periods before the pandemic (64.7%) and during MR (57.0%). During the period of COVID-19 MR, children had significantly lower odds to meet the WHO PA recommendation than adults (19.5%, 95%CI: 15.8-23.8% vs. 57.0%, 95%CI: 43.3-62.5%; OR = 0.21; p ≤ 0.001). Patient populations were less active than the general population, and their PA levels decreased during the pandemic. Mental and physical health benefits of PA have been well-demonstrated. Prioritizing PA in health campaigns and strategies is critical to address health issues exacerbated during this pandemic.

Protocol registration

doi: 10.17605/OSF.IO/GVABX.

The Concerns and Experiences of Patients With Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Regarding Prehabilitation and Recovery After Spine Surgery: A Qualitative Study

Objectives

To improve our understanding of patients' perspectives regarding: (1) the decision-making and prehabilitation before lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) surgery and (2) their postoperative experiences.

Design

Qualitative research with semi-structured interviews.

Setting

General community.

Participants

Individuals who received (N=10) and who did not receive (N=15) prehabilitation before LSS surgery were recruited at the 6-month postoperative follow-up (8 females; average age: 67.7±6.7 years) by purposive sampling. Additionally, 1 participant invited her daughter to accompany her in an interview.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Concerns and experiences of patients with LSS regarding prehabilitation and recovery after spine surgery.

Results

Thematic analysis was conducted to identify 4 themes inductively: (1) sources of information about LSS surgery; (2) factors affecting the surgical decision-making; (3) attitudes toward prehabilitation; and (4) postoperative recovery. All participants desired to have more preoperative education to inform their surgical decision-making. There were mixed opinions regarding the perceived benefits of prehabilitation because some individuals hesitated to participate in prehabilitation because of their symptoms, or the cost or time of traveling. Many participants expected some or even complete relief of LSS-related symptoms after surgery. However, not all participants experienced the expected postoperative improvements. Some participants only experienced temporary symptomatic relief, while others experienced new postoperative symptoms. Patients generally found that postoperative exercises taught by physiotherapists were useful although their compliance decreased over time.

Conclusions

Our study highlights the need for better preoperative LSS education. Because face-to-face prehabilitation or postoperative rehabilitation may not be feasible for all patients, future studies should explore whether online-based prehabilitation or postoperative rehabilitation may benefit certain patient subgroups.