Comparison and migrations of physical activity during covid-19 confinement in Latin American

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims to characterize the practice and migration of physical activity in active people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional observational study of a Latin American survey. Setting: An online survey in Google Forms format was applied between June and July 2020 through social networks. The survey consisted of general characteristics, characteristics of confinement, and characteristics related to physical activity. Subjects: 2134 people participated (33.6% male, the mean age was 30.7 ± 9.2 years), 95.2% with higher education, 74% were normal weight, 60.8% in voluntary lockdown, and 39.2% mandatory lockdown. Results: Pre-pandemic men did 217.92 min/week, and women 199.78 min/week; post-pandemic men declined to 168.34 min/week, and women to 176.70 min/week. Men pre-pandemic, had a higher proportion of compliance the WHO recommendation (77.3% vs 64.9% p =0.001). Regarding, physical activity migrations, men decreased in outside activities, team sports and increase in home physical activity, in women decreased in outside activities, team sports and an increased in fitness classes, yoga and home physical activity. Finally, when associating compliance with physical activity during confinement, it is associated with being a woman and with long weeks of confinement. Conclusion: The physically active people, despite the confinements, remain like this in the four countries evaluated; only changes are observed in the type of physical activity and the frequency of weekly sessions, not affecting their physical condition levels according to self-report.