Abstract
Abstract
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant disruptions in cardiovascular care and reductions in physical activity, but little is known about how exercise patterns changed after this period. This study assessed changes in weekly aerobic and strength training activity between 2020 and 2022 amongst adults aged 18 years or older who reported one or more cardiovascular diseases or risk factors.
Methods
This study used National Health Interview Survey data from 2020 and 2022. Adjusted differences for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were calculated using a linear regression model and for strength sessions using a Poisson regression, adjusting for sex and age. Changes in these outcomes were then stratified by age and sex subgroups.
Results
The weighted study population included 182,783,008 (standard error, ±3,334,337) adults in 2020 and 185,388,060 (SE, ±3,285,161) adults in 2022. Between 2020 and 2022, the overall weekly MVPA increased from 244.2 (SE, ±4.5) minutes to 266.3 (SE, ±5.7) minutes (adjusted difference, +22.1 [SE, ±6.92] minutes). There were no statistically significant changes in the number of strength session per week overall or among sex and age subgroups. Across sex and age subgroups, increases in weekly MVPA were entirely concentrated among males and younger adults.
Conclusion
The recovery from pandemic era reductions in aerobic and strength exercise training was uneven amongst demographic subgroups, which aligns with concurrent persistent disruptions in cardiovascular care.