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Add another potential benefit to achieving the recommended amount of physical activity each week: People who exercised regularly and then tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were less likely to experience more severe COVID-19 outcomes, according to a new study .
It’s important to note that even people who couldn’t realistically exercise 150 minutes or more a week still had significant benefits compared to people who claimed to exercise ten minutes or less.
Compared to the most active people in the study (those who exercised for 150 minutes or more each week), patients with COVID-19 who were “constantly inactive” were 226% more likely to be hospitalized, a 173% more admissions (ICU) and 149% more likely to die in the study.
Dra. Deborah Rohm Young
“We strongly believe that the results of this study represent a clear and applicable guideline that populations around the world can use to reduce the risk of serious COVID-19 outcomes, including death,” said the author of the study, Deborah Rohm Young, PhD. Medscape Medical News.
The study was published online on April 13 a British Journal of Sports Medicine.
A little exercise goes a long way
A more realistic strategy could have a greater overall impact, said Ross Arena, PhD, PT, which was not affiliated with the study. Medscape Medical News when asked to comment. “How many sedentary individuals can be seen doing this jump to 150 or more minutes of physical activity a week?” A more effective message could be “something is better than nothing and more is better,” he said.
Dr. Ross Arena
“Walking with your dog is about being physically active,” added Arena, a professor and head of the University of Illinois physiotherapy department at Chicago College of Applied Health Sciences.
“You don’t have to run a marathon or go to a gym and run on a treadmill 60 minutes a day. Although it’s great,” he said; it is also good to move more and sit less.
Young people and colleagues found, for example, that compared to people who reported exercising between 11 and 149 minutes each week, the inactive group was 120% more likely to be hospitalized, 110% more likely to be hospitalized. of needing income for critical care and 132% more of dying.
Classifying physical activity between 11 and 149 minutes a week is “a pretty wide range and there’s probably a way to try it harder,” Arena said.
“We hope that the message that a small exercise can do can be heard and acted upon,” added Young, a researcher in the Southern California Department of Research and Evaluation in Pasadena.
The merits of the movement
What is the connection? Regular exercise can improve immune function. “We have long known that immune function improves with regular physical activity and that those who are regularly active have a lower incidence, intensity of symptoms, and death from viral infections,” Young said.
Additional benefits include increased lung capacity and improved cardiovascular and muscle function, “which may serve to decrease the negative impacts of COVID-19,” he said.
Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez
“Simply put, exercise is a medicine. If you have better basic heart and lung function (as one would expect from someone who meets physical activity guidelines), it makes sense that you can better cope with stress. of COVID-19 affecting many body systems, ”said Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD, president of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at UT Health San Antonio’s Long School of Medicine in Texas. Medscape Medical News.
For more information, Young, lead author Robert Sallis, and colleagues evaluated 48,440 adults in the Kaiser Permanente system. Each had a positive test or diagnosis of COVID-19 between January 1 and October 21, 2020. Their mean age was 47 years and 62% were women.
The researchers also required that patients have at least three outpatient consultations with exercise assessment between March 19, 2018 and March 19, 2020. Most participants were in the “some physical activity” category, with only 6.4% recommended physical activity at US levels and another 14.4% were constantly inactive.
Higher probabilities of poor outcomes
Compared to the most active group that meets the guidelines, people with COVID-19 who reported 10 minutes or less of physical activity per week had a higher risk of hospitalization (odds ratio). [OR], 2.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.81 – 2.83). They were also more likely to require ICU admission (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.18 – 2.55) and to die (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.33 – 4, 67) because of COVID-19.
In addition, compared with the “some physical activity” group, patients who were constantly inactive also had a higher risk of hospitalization (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.10 – 1.32). , ICU admission (OR, 1.10; 95% CI), 0.93 – 1.29) and death (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.09 – 1.60) in cause of COVID-19.
“I didn’t expect the probability ratios to be as strong as we found them to be, especially after monitoring for known risk factors for COVID-19, especially the state of obesity,” Young said. She and her colleagues also adapted to other underlying conditions, age, sex, race, and smoking status.
“It’s a fantastic studio,” Arena said. “It is based on this rapidly growing evidence base in the era of the COVID pandemic, where lifestyle is tremendously important. Living a healthy lifestyle protects you from chronic diseases, but also from complications with infection. viral “.
Previous research has noted similar benefits between physical activity and COVID-19 outcomes. A study first published as a prepress in May 2020 assessed how lifestyle and other factors could affect the risk of infection. The British Biobank study included 387,109 adults in the UK. These researchers also found that physical activity was a very strong predictor of less serious complications with COVID-19.
Another research group showed in a January 2021 study that increased exercise capacity, estimated from grade and speed on a treadmill, was also a significant predictor of lower risk of COVID complications.
A blockage of physical activity?
Researchers have “essentially absent” education about the benefits of physical activity and tips for maintaining or increasing physical activity during the pandemic in the United States.
Young said, “The medical community and public health agencies should promote the potential of regular physical activity to reduce the severity of COVID-19 disease.”
“Now people move even less,” Arena said. “The big concern is that this will become the new norm after the pandemic comes out?” He and colleagues posted a commentary on “two-pandemic storytelling” earlier this year examining the interaction between COVID-19 and trends in global inactivity and sedentary behavior.
“The magnitude of the risk of all outcomes associated with constant inactivity exceeded the odds of smoking and virtually all chronic diseases studied in this analysis,” the researchers add. This finding could indicate that “physical inactivity may play a crucial role as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes.”
Challenging or not, it is still a modifiable risk factor
“This study found that physical inactivity was one of the strongest risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes. Physical inactivity was the third highest risk factor, only behind advanced age and history of organ transplantation, for patients with COVID-19 who ended up in hospital, admitted to the ICU or dying, “said Verduzco-Gutierrez.
“You can’t change your risk factor in old age, unfortunately, but you can increase your physical activity and decrease your risk of severe COVID,” added Verduzco-Gutierrez, who is also part of the American Academy of Physical Medicine. and Inclusion Rehabilitation and Commitment Committee and as director of the post-COVID recovery clinic at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio and at University Health.
“The next step would be to examine whether physical inactivity is related to patients suffering from long-term COVID,” he said.
Young, Arena and Verduzco-Gutierrez did not disclose any relevant financial relationships. Partial support for the study came from the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits Fund.
Damian McNamara is a Miami-based journalist. It covers a wide range of medical specialties, including infectious diseases, gastroenterology, and critical care. Follow Damian on Twitter: @MedReporter.
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