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 Jun 13;18(12):6416.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126416.

Physical Activity during COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy: A Systematic Review

Luciana Zaccagni  1   2 , Stefania Toselli  3 , Davide Barbieri  1
Affiliations

Physical Activity during COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy: A Systematic Review

Luciana Zaccagni et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a general lockdown in Italy, one of the most affected countries at the beginning of the outbreak, between 9 March and 3 May 2020. As a consequence, Italian citizens were confined at home for almost two months, an unprecedented situation, which could have negative effects on both psychological and physical health. The aim of this study was to review the published papers concerning the effects of the lockdown on physical activity and the consequences on general health. As expected, most studies highlighted a significant reduction in the amount of performed physical activity compared to before lockdown, in both the general population and in individuals with chronic conditions. This fact had negative consequences on both general health, in terms of increased body mass, and on specific chronic conditions, especially obesity and neurological diseases.

Keywords: coronavirus; general health; pandemic; physical exercise.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the literature search strategy and review process, following PRISMA rules [9].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bohn B., Herbst A., Pfeifer M., Krakow D., Zimny S., Kopp F., Melmer A., Steinacker J.M., Holl R.W. DPV Initiative. Impact of Physical Activity on Glycemic Control and Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: A Cross-sectional Multicenter Study of 18,028 Patients. Diabetes Care. 2015;38:1536–1543. doi: 10.2337/dc15-0030. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Riddell M.C., Gallen I.W., Smart C.E., Taplin C.E., Adolfsson P., Lumb A.N., Kowalski A., Rabasa-Lhoret R., McCrimmon R.J., Hume C., et al. Exercise management in type 1 diabetes: A consensus statement. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2017;5:377–390. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30014-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gielen S., Laughlin M.H., O’Conner C., Duncker D.J. Exercise training in patients with heart disease: Review of beneficial effects and clinical recommendations. Prog. Cardiovasc. Dis. 2015;57:347–355. doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2014.10.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang L., Ai D., Zhang N. Exercise Benefits Coronary Heart Disease. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 2017;1000:3–7. - PubMed
    1. Anziska Y., Inan S. Exercise in neuromuscular disease. Semin. Neurol. 2014;34:542–556. doi: 10.1002/mus.23771. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types