Efeitos da recomendação de distanciamento social devido a pandemia da COVID-19 sobre as condições de saúde e de prática de atividade física em idosos hipertensos

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of the social distancing recommendation due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the health conditions and leisure physical activity practice of hypertensive elderly subjects. This is a longitudinal quantitative study. The sample consisted of 65 hypertensive elderly subjects evaluated before (2019) and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil (period between March and May of 2022). A questionnaire was applied with questions about general characteristics, health conditions (presence of diseases, self-assessment of health, smoking, routine during the COVID-19 pandemic, among others) and leisure physical activity practice (level of practice, type of activity, weekly frequency, minutes per day and minutes per week). Measurements of weight, height, waist circumference and resting blood pressure were taken. The data were compared using the student's T-test and Mc Nemar test, considering P<0.05 as significant. Compared to the data before the COVID-19 pandemic, waist circumference (101.9±10.6cm x 100.5±10.6cm; P=0.03), systolic blood pressure (132.3±17.4mmHg x 127.9±15.6mmHg; P=0.03), diastolic blood pressure (82.6±9.4mmHg x 77.8±9.9mmHg; P=0.00), and mean blood pressure (99.1±10.9mmHg x 94.5±11.2mmHg; P=0.00) were significantly reduced. There was a significant reduction in the percentage of individuals with altered diastolic blood pressure (23.1% x 9.2%; P=0.02) and an increase in the presence of heart diseases (29.2% x 38.5%; P=0.03). The body mass index (29.4±4.8kg/m² x 29.5±5.3kg/m²; P=0.76), presence of overweight (61.5% x 56.9%; P=0.45), increased cardiovascular risk (67.7% x 66.2%; P=0.99), diabetes (38.5% x 46.2%; P=0.06), osteomioarticular diseases (41.5% x 49.2%; P=0.41), self-assessment of health (reasonable: 49.2% x 50.8%; P=0.99), and smoking (4.6% x 3.1%; P=0.99) remained stable. The percentage of elderly subjects who practiced at least 150 min/week of leisure physical activity (24.6% x 18.5%; P=0.34), the level of physical activity practice (inactive: 75.4% x 81.5%; insufficiently active: 4.6% x 3.1%; active: 20.0% x 15.4%; P=0.99), weekly frequency (3.7±2.3 times/week x 3.0±2.6 times/week; P=0.42), minutes per day (49.0±22.8min x 35.0±28.4min; P=0.15), and minutes per week (219.5±142.9min x 161.8±145.9min; P=0.30) remained stable. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 53.8% of elderly people reported that they remained practically isolated (maintaining physical distance from other people), 35.4% stayed at home all the time, 56.9% left the house only to perform essential activities, and 15.4% had COVID-19, with most having mild symptoms. In conclusion, when evaluating the effects of social distancing recommendations due to the COVID-19 pandemic on hypertensive elderly subjects, a reduction in waist circumference, blood pressure, and percentage of subjects with altered diastolic blood pressure were observed, along with an increase in the presence of heart disease and the maintenance of leisure physical activity practice in terms of practice level, weekly frequency, minutes per day, and minutes per week.