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Add another potential benefit to getting the recommended amount of physical activity each week: people who exercise regularly and then tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 are less likely to experience COVID-19 results, a new study.
Importantly, even people who could not realistically exercise 150 minutes or more per week still had significant benefits compared to people who said they exercised for 10 minutes or less.
Compared to the most active people in the study – those who exercised 150 minutes or longer each week – the patients with COVID-19 who were “constantly inactive” were 226% more likely to be hospitalized, and 173% more tended to be in an intensive care unit (ICU), and 149% more likely to die in the study.
Dr Deborah Rohm Young
“We believe the results of this study are a clear and practical guideline that can be used by populations around the world to reduce the risk of serious COVID-19 outcomes, including death,” said author Deborah Rohm Young, PhD, said. Medscape Medical News.
The study was published online on April 13 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
A little exercise goes a long way
A more realistic strategy could make a bigger impact, said Ross Arena, PhD, PT, who was not involved in the study. Medscape Medical News when asked to comment. “How many individuals sitting can see themselves making the leap to 150 or more minutes of physical activity per week?” A more effective message could be, “something is better than nothing, and more is better,” he said.
Dr Ross Arena
“When you walk your dog, it’s physically active,” added Arena, a professor and head of the physical therapy department at the University of Illinois at the Chicago College of Applied Health Sciences.
“You don’t have to run a marathon or go to a gym and run 60 minutes a day on a treadmill. Although it’s great,” he said; it is also good to move more and sit less.
Young and colleagues, for example, found that the inactive group was 120% more likely to be admitted to the hospital, compared to people who reported exercising 11 to 149 minutes per week, and that 110% were more likely to be admitted to the hospital. critical care, and 132% more likely to die.
“Classifying physical activity between 11 minutes and 149 minutes a week is a pretty wide range and there’s probably a way to bother it more,” Arena said.
“We are hopeful that the message that a little practice can go a long way will be heard and responded to,” added Young, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Research and Evaluation in California, Pasadena.
The earnings of moving
So, what’s the connection? Regular exercise can improve immune function for one. “We have long known that immune function improves with regular physical activity, and those who are regularly active have a lower incidence, intensity of symptoms and death due to viral infections,” Young said.
Additional benefits include increased lung capacity and improved cardiovascular and muscle function “which can reduce the negative effects of COVID-19,” she said.
Dr Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez
“To put it simply, exercise is medicine. If you have better heart and lung function at the base – as you would expect from someone who meets the guidelines for physical activity – then it goes without saying that you are the stressor of COVID -19 can better withstand many body systems, “said Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD, chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio in Texas. Medscape Medical News.
For more information, Young, lead author Robert Sallis, and their colleagues evaluated 48,440 adults in the Kaiser Permanente system. Each had a positive COVID-19 test or diagnosis between January 1 and October 21, 2020. Their mean age was 47 years and 62% were women.
The researchers also required patients to visit at least three outpatients with exercise assessments between 19 March 2018 and 19 March 2020. The majority of participants were in the category ” physical activity ”, with only 6.4% recommending that the US physical activity is recommended. levels and another 14.4% inactive throughout.
Greater chance of poor outcomes
Compared to the most active group that meets the guidelines, the 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 admission to the ICU (OR, 1.73; 95% GI, 1.18 – 2.55) and to die (OR, 2.49; 95% GI, 1.33 – 4.67) due to COVID-19.
Furthermore, compared to the group “some physical activity”, patients who were consistently inactive also had a greater risk of hospitalization (OR, 1.20; 95% BI, 1.10 – 1.32), admission to the ICU (OR, 1.10; 95% BI, 0.93 – 1.29), and death (OR, 1.32; 95% GI, 1.09 – 1.60) due to COVID-19.
“I did not expect the odds ratios to be as strong as we found, especially not after checking the known risk factors for COVID-19, especially obesity status,” Young said. She and colleagues also adjusted for other underlying conditions, age, gender, race and smoking status.
“This is an amazing study,” Arena said. “It builds on this evidence base that is growing rapidly in the COVID pandemic era where lifestyle is extremely important. A healthy lifestyle guides you against chronic diseases, but also against complications with viral infection.”
Previous research has shown similar benefits between physical activity and COVID-19 outcomes. A study first published as a preprint in May 2020 evaluated how lifestyle and other factors may affect the risk of infection. The UK 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 greater exercise ability, estimated from grade and speed on a treadmill, was also a major predictor of lower risk for COVID complications.
An end to physical activity?
Education about the benefits of physical activity and advice to maintain or increase physical activity during the pandemic in the United States was ‘essentially absent,’ “the researchers say.
Young said: “The potential for regular physical activity to reduce the severity of COVID-19 diseases must be promoted by the medical community and public health agencies.”
“People are moving even less now,” Arena said. “The biggest concern is that it becomes the new norm after we get out of the pandemic?” He and colleagues published a “story of two pandemics” comments earlier this year examining the interaction between COVID-19 and global inactivity and sedentary behavioral trends.
“The extent of the risk for all outcomes associated with the fact that it is consistently inactive has exceeded the chance of smoking and virtually all the chronic diseases studied in this analysis,” the researchers add. This finding may suggest that ‘physical inactivity may play an important role as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 outcomes.’
Challenging or not, still an adaptive 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 – just after 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 not change your risk age from advanced age – unfortunately – but you can increase your physical activity and reduce your risk of severe COVID,” said Verduzco-Gutierrez, who also serves in the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Inclusion, added. Involvement Committee and as director of the clinic after COVID recovery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and at University Health.
“The next step would be to see if physical inactivity is linked to patients suffering from Long COVID,” she said.
Young, Arena and Verduzco-Gutierrez did not disclose any relevant financial relationships. Partial support for the study comes from Kaiser Permanent Community Benefit Fund.
Damian McNamara is a staff journalist in Miami. He covers a wide range of medical specialties, including infectious diseases, gastroenterology and critical care. Follow Damian on Twitter: @MedReporter.
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