Longitudinal assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness and body mass of young healthy adults during COVID-19 pandemic.
J Appl Physiol (1985)
; 133(3): 622-628, 2022 09 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1973940
ABSTRACT
Physical activity was reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when lockdowns were mandated; however, little is known about the impact of these lifestyle changes on objective measures of cardiorespiratory fitness. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated the cardiorespiratory fitness of 14 young healthy adults (4 women, age 27 ± 6 yr) just before the pandemic and after â¼1 yr of public health measures being in place. During fitness assessments, participants performed submaximal pseudorandom cycling exercise to assess cardiorespiratory kinetics, and a 25 W·min-1 ramp-incremental cycling test to determine peak oxygen uptake (VÌo2). Cluster analysis identified two subgroups of participants:
those who had reduced peak VÌo2 at the 1-yr follow-up (-0.50 ± 0.17 L·min-1) and those whose peak VÌo2 was maintained (0.00 ± 0.10 L·min-1). Participants with reduced peak VÌo2 also exhibited slower heart rate kinetics (interaction P = 0.01), reduced peak O2 pulse (interaction P < 0.001), and lower peak work rate (interaction P < 0.001) after 1 yr of the pandemic, whereas these variables were unchanged in the group of participants who maintained peak VÌo2. Regardless of changes in peak VÌo2, both subgroups of participants gained body mass (main effect P = 0.002), which was negatively correlated with participants' level of self-reported physical activity level at the follow-up assessment (mass ρ = -0.59, P = 0.03) These findings suggest that some young healthy individuals lost cardiorespiratory fitness during the pandemic, whereas others gained weight, but both changes could potentially increase the risk of adverse health outcomes and disease later in life if left unaddressed.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Some young healthy adults experienced cardiovascular deconditioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, with measurable reductions in cardiorespiratory fitness, whereas others experienced no change in fitness but gained body mass, which was related to self-reported physical activity during the pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cardiorespiratory Fitness
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
J Appl Physiol (1985)
Journal subject:
Physiology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japplphysiol.00253.2022
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