More physical activity related to less severe COVID-19 symptoms – Study

COVID-19 created havoc across the globe with a pandemic and continues to spread with the help of its contagious variants. Ever since 2020, a number of studies have been undertaken by medical researchers to understand the virus better. A new study has found that people who have been more physically active before they got infected by COVID-19, are lower at risk of developing severe symptoms. The study included early 190,000 participants, who were adults.

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine last week and was conducted to determine if there was a link between remaining active and less severe symptoms of COVID-19, irrespective of race, gender or if the patient has chronic health issues. Dr. Deborah, Rohm Young, the lead author of the study said that the actual message is to convey that every little bit of activity counts. Young added that the more exercise the better and that the person’s race, ethnicity, age, gender or chronic conditions does not matter.

There were nearly 194,191 participants, who were adults from Southern California and were diagnosed with COVID-19 between January 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. The researchers had analyzed  the records at the non-profit health group Kaiser Permanente. The participants had self-reported about their physical activity in the past two years before they got infected. Every participant was categorized ranging from ‘always inactive’ which means having ten minutes or less exercise per week, ‘always active’ which means for having 150 or more minutes of exercise per week.

The study showed that the participants in the lower physical activity category were more likely to have severe symptoms of COVID-19. The trend proved to be true for people of different races and genders and also with people who have underlying conditions like cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. The authors also noted that the underlying problems like diabetes and hypertension are also associated with COVID-19 deaths.

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