TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations between physical activity prior to infection and COVID-19 disease severity and symptoms
T2 - Results from the prospective Predi-COVID cohort study
AU - Malisoux, Laurent
AU - Backes, Anne
AU - Fischer, Aurélie
AU - Aguayo, Gloria
AU - Ollert, Markus
AU - Fagherazzi, Guy
N1 - We are thankful to the study participants, the Predi-COVID study group and the funders for their support of this initiative. The Predi-COVID study is supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) (Predi-COVID, grant number 14716273), the André Losch Foundation and by European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, convention 2018-04-026-21).
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2022/4/29
Y1 - 2022/4/29
N2 - Objective To investigate if the physical activity (PA) prior to infection is associated with the severity of the disease in patients positively tested for COVID-19, as well as with the most common symptoms. Design A cross-sectional study using baseline data from a prospective, hybrid cohort study (Predi-COVID) in Luxembourg. Data were collected from May 2020 to June 2021. Setting Real-life setting (at home) and hospitalised patients. Participants All volunteers aged >18 years with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by reverse transcription-PCR, and having completed the PA questionnaire (n=452). Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was disease severity (asymptomatic, mild illness and moderate illness). The secondary outcomes were self-reported symptoms. Results From the 452 patients included, 216 (48%) were female, the median (IQR) age was 42 (31-51) years, 59 (13%) were classified as asymptomatic, 287 (63%) as mild illness and 106 (24%) as moderate illness. The most prevalent symptoms were fatigue (n=294; 65%), headache (n=281; 62%) and dry cough (n=241; 53%). After adjustment, the highest PA level was associated with a lower risk of moderate illness (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.98, p=0.045), fatigue (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.30 to 0.97, p=0.040), dry cough (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.96, p=0.034) and chest pain (OR 0.32; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.77, p=0.010). Conclusions PA before COVID-19 infection was associated with a reduced risk of moderate illness severity and a reduced risk of experiencing fatigue, dry cough and chest pain, suggesting that engaging in PA may be an effective approach to minimise the severity of COVID-19. Trial registration number NCT04380987.
AB - Objective To investigate if the physical activity (PA) prior to infection is associated with the severity of the disease in patients positively tested for COVID-19, as well as with the most common symptoms. Design A cross-sectional study using baseline data from a prospective, hybrid cohort study (Predi-COVID) in Luxembourg. Data were collected from May 2020 to June 2021. Setting Real-life setting (at home) and hospitalised patients. Participants All volunteers aged >18 years with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by reverse transcription-PCR, and having completed the PA questionnaire (n=452). Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome was disease severity (asymptomatic, mild illness and moderate illness). The secondary outcomes were self-reported symptoms. Results From the 452 patients included, 216 (48%) were female, the median (IQR) age was 42 (31-51) years, 59 (13%) were classified as asymptomatic, 287 (63%) as mild illness and 106 (24%) as moderate illness. The most prevalent symptoms were fatigue (n=294; 65%), headache (n=281; 62%) and dry cough (n=241; 53%). After adjustment, the highest PA level was associated with a lower risk of moderate illness (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.98, p=0.045), fatigue (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.30 to 0.97, p=0.040), dry cough (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.96, p=0.034) and chest pain (OR 0.32; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.77, p=0.010). Conclusions PA before COVID-19 infection was associated with a reduced risk of moderate illness severity and a reduced risk of experiencing fatigue, dry cough and chest pain, suggesting that engaging in PA may be an effective approach to minimise the severity of COVID-19. Trial registration number NCT04380987.
KW - COVID-19
KW - epidemiology
KW - public health
KW - sports medicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129124916&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35487745
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057863
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057863
M3 - Article
C2 - 35487745
AN - SCOPUS:85129124916
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 12
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 4
M1 - e057863
ER -