Observatory on Health Education and Hygiene Laboratory, Department of Human Sciences, Society and Health, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 3;19(9):5550. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095550.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools and universities to shift their activities online, influencing the adoption of health-related behaviours such as physical activity and healthy dietary habits. The present study investigates the changes in adherence to a healthy diet and regular physical activity in university students in Italy before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and understands the role of sociodemographic variables in creating the changes above. We conducted a repeated cross-sectional survey performing the same sampling strategy at the first data collection (T0) and second data collection (T1) with a combination of convenience and snowball sampling approaches. The sample is composed of a total of 2001 students, 60.2% women and 39.8% men, with an average age of 22.7 (±5.5 SD). At T1, 39.9% of the students reported regular physical activity. During the pandemic, however, many, especially male students, abandoned or reduced physical activity practice (T1 40%), with an increase in social media use (T0 52.1%; T1 90%). A direct association between very low frequency of physical activity and increased sedentary time (r = 0.2, = 0.001) and between change in dietary style and increased Body Mass Index (BMI) value (r = 0.3, = 0.002) was found. The multivariate analysis for the total sample showed that some sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, parents' level of education, area of study, household type, and perception of one's body influence eating behaviours and physical activity. Our findings suggest that universities should invest in the protection and promotion of the health of their students with specific awareness programmes, and further research should repeat the survey in the post-lockdown period to investigate the long-term effects on health-related behaviours.
COVID-19 大流行迫使学校和大学将其活动转移到线上，这影响了健康相关行为的采用，如体育活动和健康的饮食习惯。本研究调查了意大利大学生在 COVID-19 大流行前后对健康饮食和有规律的体育活动的坚持程度的变化，并了解了社会人口变量在造成上述变化中的作用。我们采用重复横断面调查的方法，在第一次数据收集（T0）和第二次数据收集（T1）中采用方便和滚雪球抽样相结合的方法，采用相同的抽样策略进行。该样本由总共 2001 名学生组成，其中 60.2%为女性，39.8%为男性，平均年龄为 22.7（±5.5 SD）。在 T1 时，39.9%的学生报告有规律的体育活动。然而，在大流行期间，许多学生，尤其是男性学生，放弃或减少了体育活动的实践（T1 为 40%），同时增加了社交媒体的使用（T0 为 52.1%；T1 为 90%）。我们发现，非常低频率的体育活动与久坐时间的增加（r = 0.2， = 0.001）之间存在直接关联，饮食方式的变化与体重指数（BMI）值的增加（r = 0.3， = 0.002）之间也存在直接关联。对总样本的多元分析表明，一些社会人口变量，如性别、年龄、父母的教育水平、学习领域、家庭类型和对自身身体的看法，会影响饮食行为和体育活动。我们的研究结果表明，大学应该通过专门的认识计划来投资保护和促进学生的健康，并应在封锁后进行进一步的研究，以调查对健康相关行为的长期影响。
