Preventive measures and concern for SARS-CoV-2 infection associated with lifestyle changes in the Peruvian population

The study was conducted to establish the association between knowledge of preventive measures and concern about SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection and lifestyle changes in the Peruvian population during the health emergency. This was an analytical and cross-sectional study, with a voluntary non-probabilistic sample of 1101 Peruvian population over 18 years old, from the three regions of the country (Coast, Highlands, and Jungle) who answered the digital questionnaires between June and July 2021. The questionnaires “Knowledge about preventive measures on COVID-19″, PRE-COVID-19, and “Changes in lifestyles during the pandemic,” instruments validated in the Peruvian population, were used to determine the association of the variables, the Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used, considering changes in lifestyles as the dependent variable. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Of the participants, 57.4% were women, 42.6% were men, with an average age of 30.9 years (SD = 13.14). The descriptive analysis showed that 50.8% of the participants were not worried about SARS-CoV-2 infection, 72.2% knew about preventive measures, and 56.4% stated that they had changed their lifestyles during the pandemic. A significant association was found between educational level (p = 0.000), having a job (p = 0.048), and being worried about SARS-CoV-2 infection (p = 0.001) with lifestyle changes. In the regression analysis, technical/higher education (95% CI = 1.51–2.67) and being worried about SARS-CoV-2 infection (95% CI = 1.71–1.91) were associated with lifestyle changes during the pandemic. The greater the degree of education and concern or fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the greater the lifestyle changes.