Changes in the Health of Adolescent Athletes: A Comparison of Health Measures Collected Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Context: In the spring of 2020, schools closed to in-person teaching and sports were cancelled to control the transmission of CoVID-19. The changes that took place to the physical and mental health among young athletes during this time remain unknown, however. Objective: Identify changes in the health (mental health, physical activity and quality of life) of athletes that occurred during the CoVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Sample recruited via social media. Patients or Other Participants: 3243 Wisconsin adolescent athletes (age=16.2±1.2 yrs., female=58% female) completed an online survey in May 2020 (DuringCoVID-19). Health measures for this cohort were compared with previously reported data for Wisconsin adolescent athletes (n=5231, age=15.7±1.2, 47% female) collected in 2016–2018 (PreCoVID-19). Main Outcome Measure(s): Demographic information included: sex, grade and sports played. Health assessments included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Item (PHQ-9) to identify depression symptoms, the Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale (PFABS) for physical activity, and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL) for health related quality of life (HRQoL). Univariable comparisons of these variables between groups were made via t-tests or chi-square tests. Means and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each group were estimated by survey weighted ANOVA models. RESULTS: Compared to PreCoVID-19, a larger proportion of the During-CoVID-19 participants reported rates of moderate to severe levels of depression (9.7% vs 32.9%, p<0.001). During-CoVID-19 participants reported 50% lower (worse) PFABS scores (mean:12.2 [95%CI: 11.9, 12.5] vs 24.7 [24.5, 24.9] p<0.001) and lower (worse) PedsQL total scores compared to the PreCoVID-19 participants (78.4 [78.0, 78.8] vs. 90.9 [90.5, 91.3] p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: During the CoVID-19 pandemic, adolescent athletes reported increased symptoms of depression, decreased physical activity and decreased quality of life compared to adolescent athletes in previous years.

Changes in Motivation, Socialization, Wellness and Mental Health in Youth Long-Distance Runners During COVID-19 Social Distancing Restrictions

“…We found that youth long-distance runners' motivation, motives, sleep duration and quality, quality of food consumed, running socialization, and anxiety were mostly negatively impacted by COVID-19 social distancing restrictions. These changes are consistent with other reported findings in youth athletes (McGuine et al, 2020 , 2021 ) and could have implications for the health and well-being of youth long-distance runners, which requires further investigation.…”

“…Within the context of these limitations, this study adds to the current literature regarding the negative effects that large-scale cancellation of a sports had on youth long-distance runners during the COVID-19 pandemic (McGuine et al, 2020 , 2021 ). Youth long-distance runners experienced changes in motivation, lower enjoyment of running, changes in wellness, and more anxiety even though they were not necessarily restricted in their ability to run, only the context and reasons for which they participated.…”

“…Elevated stress and anxiety levels have consistently been reported during COVID-19 social distancing and isolation (Di Renzo et al, 2020;Lopez-Bueno et al, 2020b;Papandreou et al, 2020). These findings of increased stress and anxiety have also been observed in youth athletes; however, most of these athletes participate in sports that cannot be competed in or practiced during social distancing (McGuine et al, 2020(McGuine et al, , 2021. Since many runners can continue their physical activity without access to facilities, they may be at a lower risk of worsening mental health during COVID-19 social distancing.…”

The Impact of Sport Activity Shut down during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: Was It Worthwhile?

“…Among the limitations, the data were retrospectively collected through a self-administered online questionnaire, thus providing possible concerns about the data quality. We recognise this limitation, which was also discussed in other studies using similar surveys [45,[47][48][49][50].…”

Lifestyle Changes and Baseball Activity among Youth Baseball Players before and during the First COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan

“…Youth athletes, in particular, may have been negatively affected by the cancellation of school and sports [9]. A previous study reported that, among youth athletes, the sleeping time was higher, and the frequency of practice was lower during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic [10].…”