Editor’s Note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance at Medscape’s coronavirus resource center.
A large study, the first to directly measure physical activity in its participants, has provided further support for the benefits of regular exercise in reducing severe outcomes from COVID-19.
The researchers identified 65,361 members of a private health plan in South Africa who had a diagnosis of COVID-19 between March 2020 and June 2021 and compared them with physical activity data for the 2 years prior to the March country lockdown. of 2020 captured by smart devices and timed gym attendance and participation in mass events in a voluntary healthy living behavior program linked to the insurer.
In total, 20.4% of the participants had performed low levels of physical activity of at least moderate intensity per week (0 – 59 minutes), 34.5% at moderate levels (60 – 149 minutes) and 45. 1% at high levels (150 minutes). or more).
Overall, 11.1% were hospitalized as a result of COVID-19, 2.4% were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), 1.3% required a ventilator, and 1.6% died.
As reported in the british Journal Of Sports Medicine, Analyzes adjusted for demographics and other risk factors showed that, with COVID-19 infection, people with high versus low physical activity had:
-
34% lower risk of hospitalization (hazard ratio [RR], 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]0.63 – 0.70)
-
41% lower risk of ICU admission (RR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.52 – 0.66)
-
45% lower risk of requiring ventilation (RR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.47 – 0.64)
-
42% lower risk of death (RR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.50 – 0.68)
Even moderate physical exercise, below the recommended guidelines of at least 150 minutes per week, was associated with benefits:
-
13% lower risk of hospitalization (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.82 – 0.91)
-
20% lower risk of ICU admission (RR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.71 – 0.89)
-
27% lower risk of requiring ventilation (RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.62 – 0.84)
-
21% lower risk of death (RR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.69 – 0.91)
“If we do encounter more waves of this pandemic, our advice from a medical standpoint should be to promote and facilitate exercise,” said lead author Jon Patricios, MD, Wits Sport and Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. he said he in an interview. “Most likely, exercise and vaccination are the two most significant interventions in terms of helping to unload the health care system rather than deal with the catastrophic events that we experienced about a year ago.”
The study showed that men are at higher risk than women of severe outcomes from COVID-19, as are patients with essential diseases. hypertensiondiabetes and chronic kidney disease.
It also suggests that the protective benefit of exercise extends to patients with HIV and those with Rheumatoid arthritistwo previously untested groups, the authors note.
The results are comparable with previous reports of self-reported exercise and COVID-19 from the United States and South Koreaalthough the effect of even moderate exercise was more significant, possibly due to the use of direct measures of exercise rather than self-report, Patricios suggested.
The above data suggests that regular physical activity can protect against many viral infections, including influenza, rhinovirus, and reactivation of latent herpesviruses, he noted. However, emerging evidence also points to significant declines in physical activity during the pandemic.
“Regular physical activity should be a strongly advocated message, particularly in less developed countries where we don’t have access to or the resources to pay for pharmacological interventions in many of these settings,” Patricios said. “It’s frustrating that the message is not getting across strongly enough. It should be on every government’s agenda.”
The cohort of members of a health insurance plan could imply some selection bias based on affordability and limit the generalizability of the results, the authors note. Other limitations include a lack of data on sociodemographic criteria such as education, income, and race, as well as behavioral risk factors such as smoking and diet.
Br J Sports Med. 2022;0:1-10. Text complete
Patricios and co-author Jan S. Thornton are editors of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Several coauthors are employees of Discovery Health, Johannesburg.
Follow Patrice Wendling on Twitter: @pwendl for more than elcorazon.org | Medscape Cardiologyfollow us Twitter and Facebook.
.
