The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on university students’ dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour

  1. Leandy Bertrand
  2. Keely A. Shaw
  3. Jongbum Ko
  4. Dalton Deprez
  5. Philip D. Chilibeck
  6. Gordon A. Zello

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Abstract

University students are a vulnerable group for poor dietary intake, insufficient physical activity and sedentary behaviour. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on university students’ dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour. Participants were students (n = 125) from the Universities of Saskatchewan and Regina. An online questionnaire was administered retrospectively (for prepandemic) and prospectively (during the pandemic) to examine students’ dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour. Overall, nutrient and caloric intakes were significantly reduced (p < 0.05) during the pandemic, and alcohol intake increased (p = 0.03). Before the pandemic, 16% and 54% of the participants were meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults (18–64 years) of 150 min of moderate−vigorous physical activity and 8 h or less of sedentary activity, respectively. Only 10% met the guidelines for physical activity while 30% met the guidelines for sedentary behaviour during the pandemic. The minutes per week spent engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity during the pandemic decreased by approximately 20% (p < 0.001). The hours spent in sedentary activities increased by 3 h per day (p < 0.001). Our findings confirm that during the pandemic, students’ inadequate dietary intake, high alcohol consumption, low physical activity, and high sedentary behaviour were significantly compounded.

Novelty: During COVID-19, the nutrient and caloric intakes of university students decreased, and alcohol intake increased significantly. University students’ physical activity levels decreased, and sedentary activity increased significantly during COVID-19. During COVID-19 students did not engage in sufficient physical activity to offset the increased sedentary behaviour.

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  1. Version published to 10.1139/apnm-2020-0990
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.12.21249608: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: The study was approved by the Biomedical Research Ethics Board of the Universities of Saskatchewan and Regina.
    Consent: The first page of the questionnaire contained an information sheet outlining the study protocols for data collection and maintaining confidentially as well as the consent process.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableDifferences in the mean daily energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient intake, physical activity and sedentary activity were analyzed using a sex (male vs. female) x time (before COVID-19 vs. during COVID-19) analysis of variance with repeated measures on time.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    In interpreting the findings of this study, several limitations need to be considered. The data describing dietary intake, physical activity and sedentary behaviour during COVID-19 represent a period of time when there were stricter mitigation measures in Saskatchewan, Canada; thus, the data should be interpreted in the context of this period. Pre-COVID-19 data were collected retrospectively, thus participants were required to recall information related to their dietary intake, physical activity levels and sedentary behaviour prior to the period of data collection. As a result, recall bias may have led to an underestimation or overestimation in the data presented this study. Additionally, considering that the pre-COVID-19 recall period may have led participants to recall their health behaviour during the winter season, seasonal variation in these health behaviours should also be considered. The data presented in this study were self-reported by participants, therefore, consistent with this approach, social desirability may have affected the results. Despite the fact that recruitment at both campuses was campus-wide and a large number of students was theoretically reached, 125 completed the survey. As a result, the findings of this study may not be reflective of the greater student population at the Universities of Saskatchewan and Regina. The number of participants may be due to the possibility that students had less interest in participating given the shift in the mode of de...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.01.12.21249608v1 on medRxiv