Physical Activity of School-Going Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Natural Experiment Study

Objective: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic associated governmental restrictions on physical activity and sedentary behavior of school-going adolescents in India and its effect on nutrition and health status. Methods: This was a before-after natural experiment study that recorded paired data of 449 (206 boys) school-going adolescents. COVID-19 related governmental measures (March 24, 2020 till February 2021) were taken as the natural experiment. The change in proportion of adolescents who met the recommended amount of physical activity guidelines and change in sedentary and dietary behaviors and body mass index (BMI) were compared. Results: The proportion of adolescents performing adequate physical activity decreased from 33.9% to 30.7% (OR 1.2,95% CI 0.9,1.6) during the pandemic. Fruit intake increased by 8.1% during the pandemic while junk food intake decreased by 17% during the pandemic. Mean (SD) BMI z-scores increased from -0.7)1.4) to -0.5)1.3) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: While there was a small decrease in the proportion of physically active adolescents during the pandemic, a shift towards healthier dietary habits was seen.