The Change in Exergaming From Before to During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Young Adults: Longitudinal Study.

BACKGROUND: Exergaming may be an important option to support an active lifestyle, especially during pandemics. OBJECTIVE: Our objectives were (1) to explore whether change in exergaming status (stopped, started or sustained exergaming, or never exergamed) from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic was related to changes in walking, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) or meeting MVPA guidelines and (2) to describe changes among past-year exergamers in minutes per week exergaming from before to during the pandemic. METHODS: A total of 681 participants (mean age 33.6; SD 0.5 years; n=280, 41% male) from the 22-year Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study provided data on walking, MVPA, and exergaming before (2017 to 2020) and during (2021) the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical activity (PA) change scores were described by change in exergaming status. RESULTS: We found that 62.4% (n=425) of the 681 participants never exergamed, 8.2% (n=56) started exergaming during the pandemic, 19.7% (n=134) stopped exergaming, and 9.7% (n=66) sustained exergaming. Declines were observed in all 3 PA indicators in all 4 exergaming groups. The more salient findings were that (1) participants who started exergaming during COVID-19 reported the highest MVPA levels before and during the pandemic and declined the least (mean -35 minutes/week), (2) sustained exergamers reported the lowest MVPA levels during the pandemic (median 66 minutes/week) and declined the most in MVPA (mean change of -92 minutes/week) and in meeting MVPA guidelines (-23.6%). During the pandemic, starting exergamers reported 85 minutes of exergaming per week and sustained exergamers increased exergaming by a median 60 minutes per week. CONCLUSIONS: Although starting and sustaining exergaming did not appear to help exergamers maintain prepandemic PA levels, exergaming can contribute a substantial proportion of total PA in young adults and may still represent a useful option to promote PA during pandemics.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety increased marginally from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic among young adults in Canada.

We documented changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic among young adults and investigated whether changes differed across participant characteristics. Data were available in an investigation of 1294 grade 7 students recruited in 1999-2000. For this analysis, we used data collected pre-pandemically in 2017-20 (mean (SD) age = 30.6 (1.0)) and during the pandemic in 2020-21 (mean (SD) age = 33.6 (0.6)). 673 participants with data in both cycles were retained for analysis. Symptoms were measured using the Major Depression Inventory (MDI) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale. Standardized mean differences (SMD) of changes in MDI and GAD-7 values between cycles were calculated across participant characteristics. On average, MDI scores increased by 2.1 (95%CI 1.4, 2.8) points during the pandemic from mean 10.5; GAD-7 scores increased by 1.2 (0.8, 1.5) points from mean 4.7. The SMD was 0.24 (0.14, 0.33) for MDI, and 0.24 (0.13, 0.34) for GAD-7. No differences in MDI change scores were observed across participant characteristics. Differences in GAD-7 change scores were observed by mood/anxiety disorder (SMD - 0.31 (- 0.58, - 0.05)), household income (0.24 (0.02, 48)), living with young children (- 0.56 (- 1.23,- 0.05)), and adherence to public health recommendations 0.58 (0.19, 1.03)). Increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms were observed 10-16 months into the COVID-19 pandemic among adults age 32-36.

Stable physical activity patterns predominate in a longitudinal study of physical activity among young adults in Canada from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We examined change in walking, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and meeting MVPA guidelines from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic, and identified factors associated with newly meeting and no longer meeting MVPA guidelines during the pandemic. Complete data were available for 614 young adults participating in the ongoing Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study pre-pandemically in 2010-12 and 2017-20, and during the pandemic in 2020-21. Change in physical activity was examined in four sub-groups (i.e., stable inactive, newly met MVPA guidelines, no longer met MVPA guidelines, stable active). Factors associated with newly and no longer met MVPA guidelines were identified in multivariable logistic regression. While walking and MVPA changed little from 2010-2 to 2017-20, both declined during the pandemic (median for both = -30 min/week). 63.3% of participants reported no change in meeting MVPA guidelines during the pandemic, 11.4% newly met MVPA guidelines and 25.2% no longer met MVPA guidelines. Male sex, not university-educated, amotivated to engage in physical activity reported pre-pandemic, and endorsing physical activity as a COVID-19 coping strategy were associated with newly met MVPA guidelines. Male sex, not university-educated, higher problem-focused coping scores and endorsing physical activity as a COVID-19 coping strategy were protective of no longer met MVPA guidelines. Increased understanding of why some participants increased or decreased MVPA during the pandemic is needed to inform physical activity-related policy during pandemics.

A longitudinal study of change in substance use from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in young adults.

Introduction: We assessed change in substance use from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic in young adults and identified factors associated with initiation/increase in use. Methods: The sample comprised young adults from a longitudinal investigation of 1294 youth recruited at ages 12-13 (1999-2000) in 10 Montréal-area high schools. Pre-pandemic data on use of cannabis, alcohol, combustible cigarette, e-cigarette and binge drinking were collected at ages 20.4, 24.0 and 30.6. During COVID-19, data were collected from December 2020 to June 2021 (age 33.6). We studied the prevalence of any and weekly/daily use from age 20.4 to 33.6. Individual-level change in substance use during the pandemic was estimated as differences in the frequency of use from age 30.6 to 33.6 versus from age 24.0 to 30.6. Heterogeneity in the risk of initiated/increased substance use during COVID-19 across sociodemographic subgroups was assessed using modified Poisson regression. Results: The prevalence of cannabis use increased from 17.5% to 23.1% from before to during the pandemic; e-cigarette use increased from 3.8% to 5.4%. In individual change analyses, the proportion of participants whose substance use did not change ranged from 48.9% (alcohol) to 84.0% (e-cigarettes). The incidence of initiated/increased cannabis use (22.4%), and quit/decreased alcohol (35.2%) and binge drinking (53.5%) were higher during the pandemic than between ages 24.0 to 30.6. Low education and living alone were associated with higher risks of initiated/increased use of most substances. Discussion: Most participants reported stable patterns in substance use from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding: The NDIT study was supported by the Canadian Cancer Society (grant numbers 010271, 017435, 704031) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant number 451832).