1. Impact of COVID-19 on Physical Activity Among 10,000 Steps Members and Engagement With the Program in Australia: Prospective Study
- Author
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To, Quyen G, Duncan, Mitch J, Van Itallie, Anetta, and Vandelanotte, Corneel
- Subjects
Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics ,R858-859.7 ,Public aspects of medicine ,RA1-1270 - Abstract
BackgroundPhysical activity is an important health behavior, due to its association with many physical and mental health conditions. During distressing events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a concern that physical activity levels may be negatively impacted. However, recent studies have shown inconsistent results. Additionally, there is a lack of studies in Australia on this topic. ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to investigate changes in physical activity reported through the 10,000 Steps program and changes in engagement with the program during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsData between January 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020, from registered members of the 10,000 Steps program, which included 3,548,825 days with step data, were used. The number of daily steps were logged manually by the members or synced automatically from their activity trackers connected to the program. Measures on program usage were the number of new registered members per day, the number of newly registered organizations per day, the number of steps logged per day, and the number of step entries per day. Key dates used for comparison were as follows: the first case with symptoms in Wuhan, China; the first case reported in Australia; the implementation of a 14-day ban for noncitizens arriving in Australia from China; the start of the lockdown in Australia; and the relaxing of restrictions by the Australian Government. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to test for significant differences in number of steps between subgroups, between engagement measures in 2019 versus 2020, and before and after an event. ResultsA decrease in steps was observed after the first case in Australia was reported (1.5%; P=.02) and after the start of the lockdown (3.4%; P
- Published
- 2021
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