JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

It is unclear whether the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on physical activity (PA) among older adults would be long-lasting, and there is a dearth of studies looking at the changes in barriers of PA among older adults before and after entering the “post-pandemic era”.

Objective:

The study compared levels and barriers of PA among a random sample of community-dwelling older adults recruited during (February to April 2022) and after the fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak (May to July 2022) in Hong Kong. In addition, we investigated factors associated with low PA level among participants recruited at different time points.

Methods:

This study had two rounds of random telephone surveys. Participants were community-dwelling Chinese-speaking individuals aged 65 years or above and having a Hong Kong ID card. Household telephone numbers were randomly selected from the most updated telephone directories. Experienced interviewers carried out telephone interviews between 6pm and 10pm on weekdays and between 2pm and 9pm on Saturdays to avoid under-sampling of working individuals. We called 3900 and 3840 households in the first and second round, 640 and 625 households had an eligible older adult, and 395 and 370 completed the telephone survey.

Results:

As compared to participants in the first round, fewer participants had low level of PA in the second round (28.6% versus 45.9%, P<.001). Participants in the second round had higher metabolic equivalent of tasks (MET)-minutes/week (median: 1707.5 versus 840, P<.001) and minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) per week (median: 240 versus 105, P<.001) than those in the first round. After adjustment for significant background characteristics, participants who perceived a lack of physical capacity to do PA (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 3.34 & 2.92, P=.001 & P=.002) and believed that PA would cause pain and discomfort (AOR: 2.04 & 2.82, P=.02 & P=.001) were more likely to have low level of PA in both rounds. Do not have time (AOR: 4.19, P=.01) and concern about COVID-19 infection during PA (AOR: 1.73, P=.02) were associated with low level of PA among participants in the first round, but not in the second round. Perceived a lack of space and facility to do PA at home (AOR: 2.03, P=.02) was associated with low PA level in the second round, but not in the first round.

Conclusions:

The level of PA increased significantly after the drop of daily-confirmed COVID-19 and the relaxation of COVID-19 control measures among older adults in Hong Kong. Different factors influenced older adults’ PA level during and after the fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. Regular monitoring of the PA level and its associated factors should be conducted to guide health promotion and policy making.