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Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults

INTRODUCTION: The closure of sports centres was implemented as a preventive measure to mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Given the observed global decline in physical activity and concurrent rise in sedentary behaviour, even among younger age groups, a retrospective cross-sectional study was...

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Autores principales: Tomezzoli, Elisa, D'Ecclesiis, Oriana, Raimondi, Sara, Pravettoni, Gabriella, Cammarata, Giulio, Testa, Giovanna, Bellerba, Federica, Gnagnarella, Patrizia, Iannuzzo, Maria Luisa, Sartorio, Alessandro, Sasso, Clementina, Ricci, Dorotea, Marazzi, Nicoletta, Galli, Federica, Gandini, Sara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10448519/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37637799
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1237443
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author Tomezzoli, Elisa
D'Ecclesiis, Oriana
Raimondi, Sara
Pravettoni, Gabriella
Cammarata, Giulio
Testa, Giovanna
Bellerba, Federica
Gnagnarella, Patrizia
Iannuzzo, Maria Luisa
Sartorio, Alessandro
Sasso, Clementina
Ricci, Dorotea
Marazzi, Nicoletta
Galli, Federica
Gandini, Sara
author_facet Tomezzoli, Elisa
D'Ecclesiis, Oriana
Raimondi, Sara
Pravettoni, Gabriella
Cammarata, Giulio
Testa, Giovanna
Bellerba, Federica
Gnagnarella, Patrizia
Iannuzzo, Maria Luisa
Sartorio, Alessandro
Sasso, Clementina
Ricci, Dorotea
Marazzi, Nicoletta
Galli, Federica
Gandini, Sara
author_sort Tomezzoli, Elisa
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The closure of sports centres was implemented as a preventive measure to mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Given the observed global decline in physical activity and concurrent rise in sedentary behaviour, even among younger age groups, a retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of this measure on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A total of 1,717 non-professional athletes (age range: 6–25; 53.9% males, 44.6% females) completed an online questionnaire including widely used and validated measures for mental health assessment (SDQ and PGWB-S) and questions regarding sociodemographic characteristics (such as gender), physical activity, and screen time. The association between mental health and sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, and screen time was evaluated by using univariate and multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS: In children and adolescents, the incidence of psychological difficulties was associated with not being physically active (OR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.07; p = 0.015). Engaging in physical activity during the period of closures, particularly if more than twice a week, was significantly associated with less psychological difficulties for children/adolescents (OR = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.82; p = 0.004) and psychological symptoms (i.e., psychological well-being lower than the median) for youth/young adults (OR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.45; p < 0.001). More psychological difficulties were also found in males for children and adolescents (OR = 1.37; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.79; p = 0.018). However, young adult males showed less psychological symptoms than females (OR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.55; p = 0.001). Additionally, a greater amount of screen time was associated with a higher incidence of psychological symptoms in the whole sample. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm the positive impact of physical activity on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among younger age groups. They also provide valuable insights into the risk-benefit relationship of interrupting sports activities as a preventive measure for infectious diseases.
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spelling pubmed-104485192023-08-25 Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults Tomezzoli, Elisa D'Ecclesiis, Oriana Raimondi, Sara Pravettoni, Gabriella Cammarata, Giulio Testa, Giovanna Bellerba, Federica Gnagnarella, Patrizia Iannuzzo, Maria Luisa Sartorio, Alessandro Sasso, Clementina Ricci, Dorotea Marazzi, Nicoletta Galli, Federica Gandini, Sara Front Public Health Public Health INTRODUCTION: The closure of sports centres was implemented as a preventive measure to mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Given the observed global decline in physical activity and concurrent rise in sedentary behaviour, even among younger age groups, a retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of this measure on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A total of 1,717 non-professional athletes (age range: 6–25; 53.9% males, 44.6% females) completed an online questionnaire including widely used and validated measures for mental health assessment (SDQ and PGWB-S) and questions regarding sociodemographic characteristics (such as gender), physical activity, and screen time. The association between mental health and sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, and screen time was evaluated by using univariate and multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS: In children and adolescents, the incidence of psychological difficulties was associated with not being physically active (OR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.07; p = 0.015). Engaging in physical activity during the period of closures, particularly if more than twice a week, was significantly associated with less psychological difficulties for children/adolescents (OR = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.82; p = 0.004) and psychological symptoms (i.e., psychological well-being lower than the median) for youth/young adults (OR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.45; p < 0.001). More psychological difficulties were also found in males for children and adolescents (OR = 1.37; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.79; p = 0.018). However, young adult males showed less psychological symptoms than females (OR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.55; p = 0.001). Additionally, a greater amount of screen time was associated with a higher incidence of psychological symptoms in the whole sample. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm the positive impact of physical activity on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among younger age groups. They also provide valuable insights into the risk-benefit relationship of interrupting sports activities as a preventive measure for infectious diseases. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-08-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10448519/ /pubmed/37637799 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1237443 Text en Copyright © 2023 Tomezzoli, D'Ecclesiis, Raimondi, Pravettoni, Cammarata, Testa, Bellerba, Gnagnarella, Iannuzzo, Sartorio, Sasso, Ricci, Marazzi, Galli and Gandini. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Tomezzoli, Elisa
D'Ecclesiis, Oriana
Raimondi, Sara
Pravettoni, Gabriella
Cammarata, Giulio
Testa, Giovanna
Bellerba, Federica
Gnagnarella, Patrizia
Iannuzzo, Maria Luisa
Sartorio, Alessandro
Sasso, Clementina
Ricci, Dorotea
Marazzi, Nicoletta
Galli, Federica
Gandini, Sara
Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
title Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
title_full Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
title_fullStr Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
title_full_unstemmed Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
title_short Sports activity limitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in young Italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
title_sort sports activity limitation during the covid-19 pandemic in young italian athletes: impact on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10448519/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37637799
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1237443
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