Impact of lifestyle on health-related quality of life among young university students: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle is strongly involved in the pathogenesis and progression of noncommunicable diseases, and has a great impact on quality of life. The goal of the present study was to analyze the lifestyle and body composition (BC) of young university students during the pandemic, and their relationship with health-related quality of life (HrQoL). DESIGN AND SETTING: Observational cross-sectional study conducted in the Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain. METHODS: A total sample of 56 healthy university students was recruited. Activity, sitting time, adherence to Mediterranean diet and BC were measured. RESULTS: Regarding BC, only 5% and 10.7% of the subjects had health risk values for waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio, respectively. The mean daily sitting-time was 8.26 hours, while 19.64% of the subjects spent ≥ 10 hours per day sitting. 92.86% of the subjects complied with the World Health Organization 2020 physical activity recommendations. The mean PREDIMED score was 7.41, while 51.8% of the subjects had low adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Regarding HrQoL, 22 subjects (39.2%) and 26 subjects (46.4%) were in the lowest quintile of physical component summary and mental component summary, respectively, according to the reference values for their age range. There was a negative correlation between physical function and sitting time (r = -0.38). CONCLUSIONS: There were high levels of sedentary behavior and low HrQoL values, with a negative moderate correlation between these variables. The findings from the present study especially highlight the importance of implementing public health programs targeting reduction of sitting time among university students.

Remotely Supervised Exercise during the COVID-19 Pandemic versus in-Person-Supervised Exercise in Achieving Long-Term Adherence to a Healthy Lifestyle

“…The RSEG participants improved the specific categories of HrQoL of vitality, general health, and physical component summary over time with a large effect size for these three variables, while the ISEG improved the general health with a large effect size. No significant differences were found between both interventions, so both groups showed a similar improvement in HrQoL, even though during the COVID-19 pandemic the university community presented very low levels of HrQoL [56].…”

“…As well as the participants of the RSEG and the ISEG improved their PA levels and their eating habits, their HrQoL also increased. In this regard, some observational studies have found positive correlations between HrQoL and PA levels [31] and adherence to the Mediterranean diet [29], while others do not [56]. The RSEG participants improved the specific categories of HrQoL of vitality, general health, and physical component summary over time with a large effect size for these three variables, while the ISEG improved the general health with a large effect size.…”

Lifestyle and Quality of Life Among Overweight University Employees

“…14 In observational studies, HrQoL has shown positive correlations with the adherence to the Mediterranean diet 15 and with physical activity levels, 16 as well as negative correlations with sedentary behavior. 17 However, to date, very few studies analyze the correlations between multiple aspects of lifestyle, body composition, and HrQoL.…”

“…Having a healthy lifestyle contributes to improving the health-related quality of life (HrQoL), its impact being even higher than that of socioeconomic factors 14 . In observational studies, HrQoL has shown positive correlations with the adherence to the Mediterranean diet 15 and with physical activity levels, 16 as well as negative correlations with sedentary behavior 17 . However, to date, very few studies analyze the correlations between multiple aspects of lifestyle, body composition, and HrQoL.…”

Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Headache Impact, Anxiety, and Physical Activity Levels in Patients with Chronic Tension-Type Headache: An Observational Study

“…To date, few studies have been conducted with patients with TTH that report a broad analysis of the associated psychosocial aspects, analyzing their impact on the severity of this pathology [20][21][22]. In addition, TTH is common among people who spend much sitting time at work, like university employees [23,24], and the World Health Organization global action plan on workers' health establishes that lifestyle interventions should be carried out within the workplace [25].…”