A cross-sectional study on the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity patterns among residents in a South Indian City

BACKGROUND: Studies have revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased sedentary behavior and reduced the number of physical activities in public. The present study attempted to assess the changes in physical activity patterns among the residents of a south Indian city at different stages after the COVID-19 outbreak. The present cross-sectional prospective study was conducted on 372 participants between November 2020 and March 2021. The physical activity patterns before, during, and after the lockdown phase were collected using a custom-built questionnaire, and the current level of physical activity was recorded using the international physical activity questionnaire–short form (IPAQ-SF). RESULTS: Higher number of respondents reported limiting the intensity of physical activities during and after lockdown [(228/372; 61.29%) and (216/372; 58.06%), respectively]. Additionally, respondents reporting lower physical activity intensity [mean total metabolic equivalents of task (MET)/week: 1182.80] compared with (99/372; 26.61%), and (63/372; 16.93%) numbers of participants who engaged in moderate (mean total MET/week-3005.86) and high levels (mean total MET/week-4188.67) of physical activities respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study reported immediate and long-term impacts on self-reported physical activity patterns among the study sample. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43161-022-00092-w.