Long-term impact of COVID-19 restrictions on physical activity and social interactions in young adults

Aim: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared pandemic by World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Restrictions to prevent the spread of the infection brought about global quarantine process and affected people’s physical activity and social interactions. Although COVID-19 restrictions are over today, long-term impact of the restrictions are unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the long-term impact of COVID-19 restrictions on physical activity and social interactions in young adults, depending on whether they had a history of COVID-19 or not. Methods: This study was conducted with young adults after COVID-19 restrictions. Young adults answered a demographic form and a COVID-19-related questionnaire created by researchers. Physical activity was evaluated with International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) and calculated in metabolic equivalent (MET). Social interaction anxiety and social phobia were assessed with Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS), both scored between 0-80, with higher scores indicating greater severity. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0. Normality was assessed by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Parametric data were compared using the Independent Samples t-Test, and categorical variables with the Chi-Square test. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: A Total of 163 young adults (age: 22.17 ± 1.73 years, COVID-19/non-COVID-19: 71/92, IPAQ-SF: 1660.83 ± 1728.84 MET, SIAS: 28.77 ± 13.53 SPS: 22.60 ± 15.96) participated. We found a statistically significant difference between COVID-19 groups according to the days spent outdoors [52.1% versus 66.3%, COVID-19 (0-3 days) versus non-COVID-19 (4-7 days), p = 0.025]. There was no statistically significant difference in IPAQ-SF (p = 0.428), SIAS (p = 0.540), and SPS (p = 0.971) according to having history of COVID-19. Conclusion: Having history of COVID-19 does not affect physical activity and social interactions after restrictions in young adults. However, considering that COVID-19 group spent outdoors less often, we think that impact of COVID-19 restrictions is still open to research.