L. Alamino Pereira Viveiro1, T. Pedrozo Campos Antunes1, F. Grazielli Mendes1, E. Gouveia e Silva1, J. de Faria Xavier1, D. Alves Costa1, B. Caruso Soares1, M. Kovachich1, C. Petravicius Bomfim1, K. Su Hsien1, B. Lange2, J. Eduardo Pompeu1
1Medical School of University of Sao Paulo, Department of Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Occupational Therapy, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2Flinders University, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Adelaide, Australia
Background: The World Health Organization recommended social isolation worldwide due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2). The social isolation in older adults can be related to physical inactivity and the occurrence of falls.
Purpose: To evaluate the impact of social isolation, adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, on the level of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and the occurrence of falls in elderlies.
Methods: A retrospective analytical study was conducted through an online questionnaire, and 496 Brazilian elderlies filled out the survey. We conducted the t-test to compare the level of physical activity before and during the social isolation, and the same was done for sedentary behavior and falls. We also conducted associations between the time in social isolation and the outcomes described during the social isolation, by Pearson Correlation Coefficient. We adopted the significance level of 5% (p<0.05).
Results: Three-hundred-fifty-two (71%) of the participants were female, being 357 (72%), from 60 to 69 years; 113 (22.8%), from 70 to 79 years; and 26 (5.2%), 80 or older. The mean of days in social isolation of our sample was 75.6 (SD14.7). We found a significant difference between the level of physical activity before and during the social isolation (p=0.001), and the sedentary behavior for both moments (p<0.001), but we didn’t find a significant difference for the number of falls (p=0.615). Besides, the time in social isolation was not associated with physical activity (r=0.039; p=0.383), sedentary behavior (r=0.006; p=0.893), and falls (r=0.039; p=0.383).
Conclusion(s): The social isolation impacts on physical activity and sedentary behavior, but not on falls in elderlies. The time in social isolation is not associated with these outcomes.
Implications: Regardless of the duration of social isolation in the elderly, the level of physical activity and sedentary behavior changes during the isolation period.
Funding, acknowledgements: This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Brazil, Finance Code-001.
Keywords: Aged, Social Isolation, Physical Activity
Topic: COVID-19
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: University of Sao Paulo
Committee: Clinics Hospital of Medical School of University of Sao Paulo
Ethics number: 4054223
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
