Why the study?
The review was conducted to identify the available evidence related to physical activity and the COVID-19 pandemic.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect physical activity levels, and what is the association between physical activity and mental health during the pandemic?
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect physical activity levels, and what is the association between physical activity and mental health during the pandemic?
The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures led to decreased physical activity levels, while maintaining physical activity may help mitigate the associated mental health burden.
Social distancing reduced physical activity and may worsen mental health; supports promotion during outbreaks but leaves open causal effects.
BACKGROUND: This scoping review aimed to identify the available evidence related to physical activity (PA) and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: A search in 6 databases (PubMed, Embase, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL) was conducted on July 23, 2020. Medical subject headings and keywords related to PA and COVID-19 were combined to conduct the online search, which covered the period from January to July 2020. RESULTS: Overall, 1784 articles were retrieved. After duplicate removal and title, abstract, and full-text screening, 41 articles were included. Most of the included studies were quantitative and collected data through online interviews/questionnaires, with sample sizes larger than 100 and composed by adults and older adults. Changes in PA levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic were the most assessed outcome, followed by the association between mental health issues and PA. Only 2 studies assessed the direct effects of PA on COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Most of the evidence identified a decrease in PA levels due to social distancing measures and that PA might help to decrease the mental health burden related to the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Caputo et al. (2020) studied this question.
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