Impact of Long-Term Home Quarantine on Mental Health and Physical Activity of People in Shanghai During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Wentong Zhu; Doudou Xu; Hui Li; Gang Xu; Jingyan Tian; Luheng Lyu; Naifu Wan; Lijiang Wei; Wuwei Rong; Chenchen Liu; Beiwen Wu; Xiaolan Bian; Ankang Lyu

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.782753

Impact of Long-Term Home Quarantine on Mental Health and Physical Activity of People in Shanghai During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jan 27:12:782753. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.782753. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Wentong Zhu¹, Doudou Xu², Hui Li³, Gang Xu⁴, Jingyan Tian^{5

6}, Luheng Lyu⁷, Naifu Wan¹, Lijiang Wei¹, Wuwei Rong¹, Chenchen Liu¹, Beiwen Wu², Xiaolan Bian³, Ankang Lyu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Nursing, School of Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ School of Public Health, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Shanghai National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Key Laboratory for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of the National Health Commission of the PR China, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Endocrine Tumor, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁷ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, United States.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of long-term home quarantine on the mental health of people during the COVID-19 epidemic in Shanghai. We conducted an online questionnaire survey on March 26 2020 and collected data on demographics, level of physical activity (PA), and mental health status of the participants. We assessed the mental health status using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), whereas PA was assessed using International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF). Of all 2,409 valid samples, participants reported performing a total of 2015.20 metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-minutes/week of total PA before the outbreak period and 1720.29 MET-minutes/week of total PA during the outbreak period (p < 0.001). Participants who spent a longer time at home reported to have a better performance on the PHQ-9 (p = 0.087) and GAD-7 (p < 0.001). A high level of PA was considered an protective factor against depression (OR = 0.755, 95% CI 0.603-0.944, p < 0.001). Additionally, a high level of PA had a preventative effect on anxiety (OR = 0.741, 95% CI 0.568-0.967, p < 0.001), and a longer working period during the outbreak was shown to be a risk factor for anxiety (11-29 days, OR 1.455, 95% CI 1.110-1.909; 30-60 days OR 1.619, 95% CI 1.227-2.316). Home confinement during the pandemic might not have a negative effect on mental health provided that people engage in more PA indoors. This study encourages interventions for mental health problems through physical exercise.

Keywords: COVID-19; home quarantine; mental health; physical activity; well-being.