Effects of COVID‐19 Lockdown on Lifestyle Behaviors in Children with Obesity Living in Verona, Italy: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that youths with obesity, when removed from structured school activities and confined to their homes during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, will display unfavorable trends in lifestyle behaviors. Methods: The sample included 41 children and adolescents with obesity participating in a longitudinal observational study located in Verona, Italy. Lifestyle information including diet, activity, and sleep behaviors was collected at baseline and 3 weeks into the national lockdown during which home confinement was mandatory. Changes in outcomes over the two study time points were evaluated for significance using paired t tests. Results: There were no changes in reported vegetable intake; fruit intake increased (P = 0.055) during the lockdown. By contrast, potato chip, red meat, and sugary drink intakes increased significantly during the lockdown (P value range, 0.005 to < 0.001). Time spent in sports activities decreased by 2.30 (SD 4.60) h/wk (P = 0.003), and sleep time increased by 0.65 (SD 1.29) h/d (P = 0.003). Screen time increased by 4.85 (SD 2.40) h/d (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Recognizing these adverse collateral effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic lockdown is critical in avoiding depreciation of weight control efforts among youths afflicted with excess adiposity. Depending on duration, these untoward lockdown effects may have a lasting impact on a child's or adolescent's adult adiposity level.

Interviewing children: the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on children’s changes in routine and psychological distress.&nbsp;

“…The current study strongly supports the hypothesis positing that the COVID-19 pandemic will "exacerbate all of the risk factors for weight gain associated with summer recess" [12]. Speci cally, a longitudinal study of children and adolescents with obesity a rmed that eating, activity, and sleep behaviors changed in an unfavorable direction 3 weeks into their con nement during the national lockdown [18] Are changes in sleep temporary, or will a subset of youth experience longer-term sleep disturbances that originated during the COVID-19 pandemic? Will changes in sleep patterns (such as an increasingly late bedtime in adolescents) result in difficulties once normality starts to return (e.g., when schools reopen and early mornings are required once more) [13]?…”

“…Particular attention must be paid to the adaptive behaviour shown by some children that may hide the presence (even if sub-threshold) of depressive symptoms or psychological unease [18].…”

“…A 4-point Likert-type scale was employed to measure the anxiety level: 0 "never", 1 "sometimes", 2 "lots of times", 3 "almost all the time". We divided the scores into 3 main categories: normal anxiety (0-9), mild to moderate anxiety (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), and severe anxiety (15)(16)(17)(18): a subject scored positive for anxiety if the total score was ≥ 10.…”

Diffusing wave microrheology of highly scattering concentrated monodisperse emulsions

“…This overall pattern particularly clustered participants (cluster 2) who were women, with a higher level of education but lower income, teleworking from home (which was generalized as a result of the lockdown measures), with children aged under 18 y at home, higher scores for depressive symptoms, and already a higher proportion of ultra-processed foods in their diets before the lockdown. Less healthy nutritional behaviours have also been underlined in studies involving children and students in Italy [30,31] where the lockdown had a negative impact on physical activity but also on the consumption of foods, which is in line with this first trend of behaviours.…”

Psychosocial impact of respiratory infectious disease pandemics on children: a systematic review

“…pandemic. 36 Compared with the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period, 65.4% of the enrolled preschool children experienced an increase of 10 min in total screen time per day, while the continuous screen time increased by 5 min in 1444 (60.9%) participants. 37 Associations between behavioral motivations and mental health responses.…”