1Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Faculty of Biosciences, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan.
2Department of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Mar 9;104(5):1687-1693. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-1451.
Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has significantly increased the mortality and morbidity rates worldwide. The present study was conducted to assess the general public's awareness of COVID-19 and its association with mental health, dietary habits, and physical activity. A web-based survey was conducted to gather information about demographics, knowledge about COVID-19, dietary habits, mental health, and anthropometry among the general public of Pakistan. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis. The majority of the participants were suffering from anxiety (71.0%) and depression (52.0%) during the COVID-19 pandemic; 32.4% of participants had poor COVID-19-related knowledge. COVID-19 lockdown reduced the physical activity of 66.9% of participants and increased weight of 38.8% of the survey participants. Demographic variables, including age, gender, ethnicity, education, employment, family type, and geographical location, were significantly associated with knowledge about COVID-19 (P < 0.05). Depression was inversely associated with COVID-19 knowledge (P < 0.05). Healthy changes in dietary habits including decreased consumption of fast foods, soft and cola drinks, fruit drinks, cooked meat (outside the home), sugar, and fats, and were associated with increased knowledge of COVID-19. Vitamin C and immunity-boosting supplement consumption were significantly associated with increased knowledge regarding COVID-19 (< 0.05). Inadequate knowledge about COVID-19 and the presence of anxiety and depression were found among most of the study participants. There is a need to conduct educational seminars to limit the health consequences resulting from COVID-19 lockdown.
冠状病毒感染（COVID-19）已使全球的死亡率和发病率显著上升。本研究旨在评估公众对 COVID-19 的认知及其与心理健康、饮食习惯和身体活动的关系。通过网络调查收集了巴基斯坦公众的人口统计学信息、对 COVID-19 的了解、饮食习惯、心理健康和人体测量数据。采用描述性统计、卡方检验和多因素逻辑回归进行数据分析。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，大多数参与者（71.0%）感到焦虑，（52.0%）感到抑郁；32.4%的参与者对 COVID-19 相关知识了解不足。COVID-19 封锁减少了 66.9%参与者的身体活动量，增加了 38.8%的参与者的体重。包括年龄、性别、种族、教育程度、就业、家庭类型和地理位置在内的人口统计学变量与对 COVID-19 的了解程度显著相关（P<0.05）。抑郁与 COVID-19 知识呈负相关（P<0.05）。饮食习惯的健康变化，包括减少快餐、软饮料和可乐饮料、果汁饮料、熟食（在家外）、糖和脂肪的摄入，与 COVID-19 知识的增加有关。维生素 C 和增强免疫力的补品的摄入与对 COVID-19 的了解增加显著相关（P<0.05）。大多数研究参与者对 COVID-19 的了解不足，存在焦虑和抑郁。需要举办教育研讨会，以限制 COVID-19 封锁带来的健康后果。
