Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 11:12:620307.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.620307. eCollection 2021.

No Evidence for a Decrease in Physical Activity Among Swiss Office Workers During COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study

Andrea Martina Aegerter  1 , Manja Deforth  1 , Gisela Sjøgaard  2 , Venerina Johnston  3 , Thomas Volken  1 , Hannu Luomajoki  4 , Julia Dratva  1   5 , Holger Dressel  6 , Oliver Distler  7 , Markus Melloh  1   8   9 , Achim Elfering  10 ; NEXpro Collaboration Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

No Evidence for a Decrease in Physical Activity Among Swiss Office Workers During COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study

Andrea Martina Aegerter et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Purpose: The COVID-19 lockdown interrupted normal daily activities, which may have led to an increase in sedentary behavior (Castelnuovo et al., 2020). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the level of physical activity among Swiss office workers.

Methods: Office workers from two Swiss organizations, aged 18-65 years, were included. Baseline data from January 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic became effective in Switzerland were compared with follow-up data during the lockdown phase in April 2020. Levels of physical activity were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Paired sample t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank test were performed for statistical analysis.

Results: Data from 76 participants were analyzed. Fifty-four participants were female (71.1%). The mean age was 42.7 years (range from 21.8 to 62.7) at baseline. About 75% of the participants met the recommendations on minimal physical activity, both before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the lockdown. Weak statistical evidence for a decline in total physical activity in metabolic equivalent of task minutes per week (MET min/week) was found (estimate = -292, 95% CI from - ∞ to 74, p-value = 0.09), with no evidence for a decrease in the three types of activity: walking (estimate = -189, 95% CI from - ∞ to 100, p-value = 0.28), moderate-intensity activity (estimate = -200, 95% CI from - ∞ to 30, p-value = 0.22) and vigorous-intensity activity (estimate = 80, 95% CI from - ∞ to 460, p-value = 0.74). Across the three categories "high," "moderate," and "low" physical activity, 17% of the participants became less active during the lockdown while 29% became more active.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic did not result in a reduction in total physical activity levels among a sample of Swiss office workers during the first weeks of lockdown. Improved work-life balance and working times may have contributed to this finding.

Clinical trial registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04169646. Registered 15 November 2019 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04169646.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; health promotion; lockdown; physical exercise; public health; shutdown.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Study flow-chart.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Physical activity in MET min/week at baseline (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and follow-up (during the lockdown).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Physical activity categories at baseline (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and follow-up (during the lockdown). The mosaic plot shows three horizontal bars, with one bar per category of physical activity (“low,” “moderate,” and “high”). The colored areas of the horizontal bars represent the proportion of the study participants which reached the physical activity categories “high” (light gray), “moderate” (gray), and “low” (dark gray) at follow-up. The numbers represent the number of participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aegerter A. M., Deforth M., Johnston V., Ernst M. J., Volken T., Luomajoki H., et al. (2020). On-site multi-component intervention to improve productivity and reduce the economic and personal burden of neck pain in Swiss office-workers (NEXpro): protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculosk. Disord. 21:391. 10.1186/s12891-020-03388-x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ammar A., Brach M., Trabelsi K., Chtourou H., Boukhris O., Masmoudi L., et al. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 home confinement on eating behaviour and physical activity: results of the ECLB-COVID19 international online Survey. Nutrients 12:1583. 10.3390/nu12061583 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baik I., Curhan G. C., Rimm E. B., Bendich A., Willett W. C., Fawzi W. W. (2000). A prospective study of age and lifestyle factors in relation to community-acquired pneumonia in US men and women. Arch. Int. Med. 160 3082–3088. 10.1001/archinte.160.20.3082 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bland M. (2015). An Introduction to Medical Statistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    1. Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS) (2020). Schweizerische Arbeitskrafterhebung (SAKE). Available online at https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/arbeit-erwerb/erwerbsta.... (accessed 09.01.2021).

Associated data