Changes in physical activity and rest-activity circadian rhythm among Hong Kong community aged population before and during COVID-19

BACKGROUND: This study aims to determine the changes in physical activity and actigraphy-measured rest-activity circadian rhythm among Hong Kong community aged population before and during the outbreak of COVID-19. METHODS: This is a three repeated measure population-based cross-sectional study. We recruited community older men aged > 60 years in three periods of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, i.e., before the COVID-19 outbreak (2 July 2019–8 January 2020), between the 2nd and 3rd waves of COVID-19 (23 June 2020–9 July 2020), and during the 3rd wave of COVID-19 (15 September 2020–29 September 2020). Participants reported detailed information on their physical activity habits using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and wore actigraphs continuously for 7 days (168 h). The actigraph data were then transferred to four rest-activity circadian rhythm parameters: midline statistic of rhythm (MESOR), amplitude, acrophase and percent rhythm. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to estimate the association of period effect of COVID-19 on physical activity and rest-activity circadian rhythm parameters. RESULTS: Among the 242 community older men, 106 (43.8%) of them were recruited before the COVID-19 outbreak, 66 (27.3%) were recruited between the 2nd and 3rd waves of COVID-19, and 70 (28.9%) were recruited during the late phase of the 3rd wave of COVID-19. Compared with those recruited before COVID-19, participants recruited between the 2nd and 3rd waves of COVID-19 had lower physical activity (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.03, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) =1.05–3.93), MESOR (AOR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.01–4.18), and amplitude (AOR = 1.91, 95%CI = 0.95–3.83). There was no difference in physical activity or circadian rhythm parameters between subjects recruited before and during the late phase of the 3rd wave. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the effect of COVID-19 on physical activity and rest-activity circadian rhythm for the community people may be short-term, indicating strong resilience of the community population. Although maintaining physical activity are encouraged for the older adults to sustain good health, a rebound in their physical activity may be a sign for the next wave of outbreak if insufficient social distancing and population protection are facilitated. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-10890-x.