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CC BY 4.0 · Rev Bras Ortop (Sao Paulo) 2025; 60(01): s00441800941
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1800941
Artigo Original

The Impact of COVID-19 Social Isolation on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Brazilian Children and Adolescents

Article in several languages: português | English
Fernando Leite Miranda 
1   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas ao Esporte e à Atividade Física, Departamento de Ortopedia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil
,
Carlos Henrique Fernandes 
1   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas ao Esporte e à Atividade Física, Departamento de Ortopedia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil
,
Lia Myiamoto Meirelles 
1   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas ao Esporte e à Atividade Física, Departamento de Ortopedia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil
,
Flavio Faloppa 
1   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas ao Esporte e à Atividade Física, Departamento de Ortopedia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil
,
Benno Ejnisman 
1   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas ao Esporte e à Atividade Física, Departamento de Ortopedia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil
,
Moises Cohen 
1   Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas ao Esporte e à Atividade Física, Departamento de Ortopedia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil
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Abstract

Objective To measure the impact of social isolation on physical activities and sedentary behavior in Brazilian children and adolescents. To assess whether factors such as age, gender, days of week, type of housing, and the population of the city also had an impact.

Methods The study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee, and consent from parents was obtained. A Google Form (Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, USA) was sent to parents by email and WhatsApp (Meta Platforms Inc., Menlo Park, CA, USA). Parents answered the C-PAQ.PT questions for two different periods of time, one month before and during social isolation.

Results There was a statistically significant reduction in the mean physical activity (p < 0.001) and an increase in the mean sedentary activities (p < 0.001) on weekdays and weekends during social isolation. There was a greater reduction in basketball, handball, and running in the 10 to 14-year-old group, as well as playing in the playground in the 5-to-9-year-old group. There was a statistically significant decrease in the practice of tag and cycling, respectively, among females and males. We did not observe statistically significant differences between types of housing and the number of inhabitants in the city.

Conclusion The C-PAQ.PT allowed a quantitative assessment to identify the variations in physical activities and sedentary behaviors during social isolation. We have observed that only two physical activities were impacted by gender. The changes were not influenced by the number of inhabitants in the city or the type of housing.

Keywords

adolescent - children - COVID-19 - exercise - surveys and questionnaires

Financial Support

The authors declare that they did not receive financial support from agencies in the public, private, or non-profit sectors to conduct the present study.


Work carried out at the Department of Orthopedics, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 18 May 2024

Accepted: 02 October 2024

Article published online:
12 March 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Fernando Leite Miranda, Carlos Henrique Fernandes, Lia Myiamoto Meirelles, Flavio Faloppa, Benno Ejnisman, Moises Cohen. O impacto do isolamento social da Covid-19 na atividade física e no comportamento sedentário de crianças e adolescentes brasileiros. Rev Bras Ortop (Sao Paulo) 2025; 60: s00441800941.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1800941
 

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