Prevalence and correlates of physical activity in a sample of UK adults observing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Lee Smith; Louis Jacob; Laurie Butler; Felipe Schuch; Yvonne Barnett; Igor Grabovac; Nicola Veronese; Cristina Caperchione; Guillermo F Lopez-Sanchez; Jacob Meyer; Mohammad Abufaraj; Anita Yakkundi; Nicola Armstrong; Mark A Tully

doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000850

Prevalence and correlates of physical activity in a sample of UK adults observing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2020 Jul 1;6(1):e000850. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000850. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le- Bretonneux, France.
³ Faculty of Science and Engineering, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Sports Methods and Techniques, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
⁵ Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
⁶ Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Geriatric Unit, Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
⁸ School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, University of Technology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Faculty of Sport Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
¹⁰ Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, Iowa, Missouri, USA.
¹¹ Department of Special Surgery, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
¹² Northern Ireland Public Health Research Network, School of Health Sciences, Ulster University, Ulster, Ireland.
¹³ HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), Belfast, Ireland.
¹⁴ Institute of Mental Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Ulster University, Newtownabbey, Ireland.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the levels and correlates of physical activity during COVID-19 social distancing in a sample of the UK public.

Methods: This paper presents analyses of data from a cross-sectional study. Levels of physical activity during COVID-19 social distancing were self-reported. Participants also reported on sociodemographic and clinical data. The association between several factors and physical activity was studied using regression models.

Results: Nine hundred and eleven adults were included (64.0% were women and 50.4% of the participants were aged 35-64 years). 75.0% of the participants met the physical activity guidelines during social distancing. Meeting these guidelines during social distancing was significantly associated with sex (reference: male; female: OR=1.60, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.33), age (reference: 18-34 years; ≥65 years: OR=4.11, 95% CI 2.01 to 8.92), annual household income (reference: <£15 000; £15 000-<£25 000: OR=2.03, 95% CI 1.11 to 3.76; £25 000-<£40 000: OR=3.16, 95% CI 1.68 to 6.04; £40 000-<£60 000: OR=2.27, 95% CI 1.19 to 4.34; ≥£60 000: OR=2.11, 95% CI 1.09 to 4.09), level of physical activity per day when not observing social distancing (OR=1.00 (per 1 min increase), 95% CI 1.00 to 1.01), and any physical symptom experienced during social distancing (reference: no; yes: OR=0.31, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.46).

Conclusion: During COVID-19, social distancing interventions should focus on increasing physical activity levels among younger adults, men and those with low annual household income. It should be noted in the present sample that women and younger adults are over-represented.

Keywords: epidemiology; physical activity; public health.