Comparison of national trends in physical activity among adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationally representative serial study in South Korea
Jun Hyuk Lee,
Yejun Son,
Jaeyu Park,
Hayeon Lee,
Yujin Choi,
Myeongcheol Lee,
Sunyoung Kim,
Jiseung Kang,
Jiyeon Oh,
Hyeon Jin Kim,
Sang Youl Rhee,
Lee Smith,
Dong Keon Yon
Affiliations
Jun Hyuk Lee
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Health and Human Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Yejun Son
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Precision Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Jaeyu Park
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Regulatory Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
Hayeon Lee
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Yujin Choi
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Korean Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Myeongcheol Lee
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Regulatory Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
Sunyoung Kim
Department of Family Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Jiseung Kang
Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Jiyeon Oh
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Hyeon Jin Kim
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Regulatory Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea
Sang Youl Rhee
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Precision Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Regulatory Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Lee Smith
Centre for Health, Performance and Wellbeing, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK; Corresponding author. Centre for Health, Performance and Wellbeing, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, CB1 1PT, UK.
Dong Keon Yon
Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Precision Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Regulatory Science, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Medicine, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; Corresponding author. Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine 23 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02447, South Korea.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered daily routines and lifestyle behaviors worldwide, potentially significantly impacting physical activity levels, especially among adolescents. Understanding these changes is crucial for developing targeted interventions to promote health and well-being in this vulnerable population. This paper will explore longitudinal trends of physical activities (PA) in Korean adolescents, focusing on changes between the pre and late-COVID-19 pandemic periods. Methods: The data used were from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey for consecutive years from 2009 to 2022. In this study, we have separated data into the pre-COVID-19 pandemic (2009–2019) and the pandemic. Following the World Health Organization (WHO)'s guideline, we analyzed adolescent self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) Results: A total of 890,941 adolescents, people aged between 12 and 18 years old. The 14-year trends in MVPA showed an upward trend both before the pandemic (β, 0.005; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 0.004–0.005) and during the pandemic (β, 0.004; 0.002–0.006). Furthermore, the prevalence of MVPA recovered/increased in 2022 (5.61 % in 2020, 5.22 % in 2021, and 6.34 % in 2022). Similar to the MVPA patterns, the mean metabolic equivalent task (MET) score increased during before the pandemic (β, 15.392; 12.523–18.261) and during the pandemic (β, 49.518; 41.948–57.088). However, unlike MVPA patterns, the MET slope changed positively (βdiff, 34.126; 26.031–42.221). Conclusion: Present findings suggest that Korean adolescents achieving the recommended PA levels by the WHO remained steady despite the pandemic. This stability in PA levels during a significant disruption (i.e. the COVID-19 pandemic) is noteworthy and warrants further investigation into the factors that may have contributed to this resilience, including potential influences from various societal and environmental elements.
