ABSTRACT
Background: We aimed to investigate school-aged students' physical activity behaviors and overweight status during the COVID-19 quarantine. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, an online questionnaire was utilized to measure participants' physical activity behavior and overweight status during the COVID-19 quarantine in Iran (May of 2021). Participants self-reported their physical activity levels, types, amounts and locations, as well as whether or not they became overweight. The chi-square test was used to determine the differences in the distribution of the participant responses. The statistical significance level was set at P<0.05. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 43,660 school-aged students (15,532 boys and 28,128 girls). The age, weight, and height ranges were 8-17 yr, 18-144 kg, and 75-198 cm respectively. Half of the students reported changes in their body weight and became overweight during the COVID-19 pandemic (χ2=25514.4; P=0.001). Forty-one percent reported doing very little or no physical activity, 32% of students reported doing less than one hour of exercise per day (χ2=8547.7; P=0.001). The majority of students (72%) reported participating in physical activity at home (χ2=78851.2; P=0.001). Flexibility was the main kind of exercise performed, followed by walking or running, during the COVID-19 pandemic (χ2=24328.9; P=0.001). Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, half of the students became overweight, and the majority did not engage in regular physical activity. These findings can help guide efforts to protect and promote children's health during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as influence policies to reduce the risk of future pandemics.
ABSTRACT
Purpose of the study: Work addiction risk is a growing public health concern with potential deleterious health-related outcomes. Perception of work (job demands and job control) may play a major role in provoking the risk of work addiction in employees. We aimed to explore the link between work addiction risk and health-related outcomes using the framework of job-demand-control model. Methods: Data were collected from 187 out of 1580 (11.8%) French workers who agreed to participate in a cross-sectional study using the WittyFit software online platform. The self-administered questionnaires were the Job Content Questionnaire by Karasek, the Work Addiction Risk Test, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and socio-demographics. Data Analysis: Statistical analyses were performed using the Stata software (version 13). Results: There were five times more workers with a high risk of work addiction among those with strong job demands than in those with low job demands (29.8% vs. 6.8%, p = 0.002). Addiction to work was not linked to job control (p = 0.77), nor with social support (p = 0.22). We demonstrated a high risk of work addiction in 2.6% of low-strain workers, in 15.0% of passive workers, in 28.9% of active workers, and in 33.3% of high-strain workers (p = 0.010). There were twice as many workers with a HAD-Depression score ≥11 compared with workers at low risk (41.5% vs. 17.7%, p = 0.009). Sleep quality was lower in workers with a high risk of work addiction compared with workers with a low risk of work addiction (44.0 ± 27.3 vs. 64.4 ± 26.8, p < 0.001). Workers with a high risk of work addiction exhibited greater stress at work (68.4 ± 23.2 vs. 47.5 ± 25.1) and lower well-being (69.7 ± 18.3 vs. 49.3 ± 23.0) compared with workers at low risk (p < 0.001). Conclusions: High job demands are strongly associated with the risk of work addiction. Work addiction risk is associated with greater depression and poor quality of sleep. Preventive strategies should benefit from identifying more vulnerable workers to work addiction risk.
Subject(s)
Behavior, Addictive , Occupations , Stress, Psychological , Workload , Behavior, Addictive/epidemiology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Social Support , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225542.].
