Physical activity of people who recovered from COVID-19

Abstract

The study of issues aimed at reducing the spread and severity of the viral infection course caused by SARSCoV-2 seems relevant and timely. The purpose of the research: to study the effect of physical activity, body weight and chronic diseases in the pre-COVID period on the severity of COVID-19 disease. Research materials and methods.In 2021, in Irkutsk (Russia), 213 people aged 18-80 who had fully recovered after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus were interviewed by online questionnaire. All respondents were divided into 2 groups according to their weekly physical activity level before the disease. The first group included individuals with «High physical activity» gradation who performed at least 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity and/or at least 75 minutes of high physical activity. The group with «Low physical activity» gradation included respondents who did not perform the recommended amount of physical activity. An additional questionnaire was conducted on the clinical aspects of the disease: the location during treatment, the severity of the disease, the presence of concomitant chronic diseases and anthropometric parameters (weight, kg and body length, cm). To assess the relationship between the severity of COVID-19 and the state of body weight, BMI was calculated. Research results. The predominant spread of COVID-19 diseases among the population of the older age group (65-80 years) has been established. The number of hospitalized men with low weekly physical activity was 1.5 times, and women 1.6 times more than the number of patients with a high level of physical activity, p<0.05. Among outpatient patients, men with low weekly physical activity turned out to be 2.5 times less than men with high physical activity, p<0.05. Chronic diseases in all respondents with low physical activity who had had COVID-19 infection were 2.9 times more common than in all participants of the project with high physical activity. About 70% of hospitalized men and women with a low weekly level of physical activity were overweight or obese, which is 2.6 times more than the number of patients (26.5%) with a high weekly level of physical activity, p<0.05. There are more men and women with normal BMI who have been ill with COVID-19 disease in the outpatient group than in the hospitalized group. Conclusions. For purposeful explanation and popularization of regular motor activity among the population, especially the elderly, and people with low physical activity, chronic diseases and overweight should be allocated to the COVID-19 risk group. According to the health protocol, it is necessary to promote the performance of physical activity during the pandemic, using individual aerobic physical activities at home or outdoors.