Physical activity and long COVID: findings from the Prospective Study About Mental and Physical Health in Adults cohort.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The study investigated the longitudinal association between physical activity and the risk of long COVID in patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed longitudinal data of the Prospective Study About Mental and Physical Health cohort, a prospective cohort study with adults living in Southern Brazil. METHODS: Participants responded to an online, self-administered questionnaire in June 2020 (wave 1) and June 2022 (wave 4). Only participants who self-reported a positive test for COVID-19 were included. Physical activity was assessed before (wave 1, retrospectively) and during the pandemic (wave 1). Long COVID was assessed in wave 4 and defined as any post-COVID-19 symptoms that persisted for at least 3 months after infection. RESULTS: A total of 237 participants (75.1% women; mean age [standard deviation] 37.1 [12.3]) were included in this study. The prevalence of physical inactivity in baseline was 71.7%, whereas 76.4% were classified with long COVID in wave 4. In the multivariate analysis, physical activity during the pandemic was associated with a reduced likelihood of long COVID (prevalence ratio [PR] 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.99) and a reduced duration of long COVID symptoms (odds ratio 0.44; 95% CI 0.26-0.75). Participants who remained physically active from before to during the pandemic were less likely to report long COVID (PR 0.74; 95% CI 0.58-0.95), fatigue (PR 0.49; 95% CI 0.32-0.76), neurological complications (PR 0.47; 95% CI 0.27-0.80), cough (PR 0.40; 95% CI 0.22-0.71), and loss of sense of smell or taste (PR 0.43; 95% CI 0.21-0.87) as symptom-specific long COVID. CONCLUSION: Physical activity practice was associated with reduced risk of long COVID in adults.