Swimming at the Time of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study among Young Italian Competitive Athletes.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 19(20)2022 Oct 14.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2071449
ABSTRACT
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several restriction measures were imposed to control the virus transmission, with important repercussions on different sectors, including sport. This study aimed to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian competitive swimmers by analyzing how the disease and the restriction measures affected their training. In total, 396 competitive swimmers (mean age 16.0 ± 3.2 years) participated. A questionnaire was used to collect their general information, to assess whether they had had COVID-19 and the number of training days lost due to the disease or to the closure of swimming facilities, and the possible alternative training adopted. Twenty-four (6.1%) participants had had COVID-19 and lost, on average, 32 training days. The closure of facilities caused an interruption in swimming training for about 18% of the participants. The majority of these continued their training, mainly through home-based exercise, but reduced their weekly training time (-8 median hours/week). A positive association was found between regularly adopted weekly training volume and that assumed during pandemic closure (OR 9.433, CI95% 1.644-54.137, p = 0.012), suggesting that the previous level of engagement in sport can represent a predictor of exercise maintenance in challenging situations such as a pandemic. Further studies are needed to identify personal, environmental, and social resources that can help individuals to counteract the negative effects of restriction measures.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Swimming
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Humans
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph192013236
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