Relationship of Social Connectedness With Decreasing Physical Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Older Women Participating in the Women's Health Initiative Study

Abstract

Background: Aging is generally accompanied by decreasing physical activity (PA), which is associated with a decline in many health parameters, leading to recommendations for older adults to increase or at least maintain PA.

Methods: We determined relationships between social connectedness and decreasing or increasing PA levels during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic among 41 443 participants of the Women's Health Initiative Extension Study. Outcomes of logistic regression models were decreasing PA activity (reference: maintaining or increasing) and increasing PA activity (reference: maintaining or decreasing). The main predictor was social connectedness as a combined variable: not living alone (reference: living alone) and communicating with others outside the home more than once/week (reference: once/week or less). We adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, body mass index, physical function level, and education.

Results: Compared with participants who were not socially connected, socially connected participants had lower odds of decreasing PA (adjusted odds ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.87-0.95). Odds of increasing PA (vs decreasing or maintaining PA) were not significantly different among socially connected and not socially connected participants. Associations between social connectedness and decreasing PA did not significantly differ by age (<85 vs ≥85 years), race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White vs other races/ethnicity), education (college vs <college), use of technology to stay in touch with others, or Research and Development physical function score (≤75 vs >75).

Conclusion: Social connectedness was associated with lower odds of decreasing PA among older women during the pandemic. These findings could inform the development of future interventions to help older women avoid decreasing PA.

Keywords: COVID-19; Physical activity; Social connectedness; Social isolation.