Philippi Keito F A, Zeier Peter, Brahmer Alexandra, Neuberger Elmo W I, Sandner Magdalena, Hagenah Matthias, Porten Thilo, Lenz Regina, Ochmann David T, Wedekink Florian, Wischhusen Jörg, Lutz Beat, Lieb Klaus, Wessa Michèle, Simon Perikles
Department of Sports Medicine, Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation, Institute of Sports Science, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Department of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
J Med Internet Res. 2024 Aug 8;26:e53145. doi: 10.2196/53145.
Societal measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 (eg, lockdown and contact restrictions) have been associated with decreased health and well-being. A multitude of prepandemic studies identified the beneficial effects of physical exercise on both physical and mental health.
We report on the feasibility of a remote physical exercise intervention and its stress-buffering potential in 2 untrained cohorts: a pre-COVID-19 cohort that completed the intervention in 2019 and a lockdown cohort that started the intervention shortly before pandemic-related restrictions were implemented.
In a randomized controlled trial, participants were assigned to either an intervention group (IG; pre-COVID-19 cohort: n=7 and lockdown cohort: n=9) or a control group (CG; pre-COVID-19 cohort: n=6 and lockdown cohort: n=6). IG participants received weekly individualized training recommendations delivered via web-based support. The intervention period was initially planned for 8 weeks, which was adhered to in the pre-COVID-19 cohort (mean 8.3, SD 0.5 weeks) but was extended to an average of 17.7 (SD 2.0) weeks in the lockdown cohort. Participants' health parameters were assessed before and after the intervention: aerobic capacity was measured as peak oxygen uptake (VO) via cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Depressive symptoms were scored via the depression subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18.
Dropout rates were low in both cohorts in the IG (pre-COVID-19 cohort: n=0, 0% and lockdown cohort: n=2, 16.7%) and the CG (pre-COVID-19 cohort: n=0, 0% and lockdown cohort: n=2, 20%). The mean adherence to the training sessions of the IG for both cohorts was 84% (pre-COVID-19 cohort: SD 5.5% and lockdown cohort: SD 11.6%). Aligned rank transform ANOVAs in the lockdown cohort indicated deterioration of VO and depressive symptoms from before to after the intervention in the CG but no longitudinal changes in the IG. Analyses in the pre-COVID-19 cohort revealed significant increases in VO for the IG compared to the CG (P=.04) but no intervention effects on depressive symptoms.
With low dropout rates and high adherence, the remote intervention was feasible for healthy adults under regular conditions and in the face of pandemic-related stressors. Moreover, our results hint at a stress-buffering effect as well as a buffering of a lockdown-induced deconditioning of remote physical exercise interventions in the pandemic scenario, which can be used in future studies to overcome equally stressful periods of life. However, due to limited statistical power, these findings should be replicated in similar scenarios.
German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00018078; https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00018078.
控制新冠病毒病（COVID-19）传播的社会措施（如封锁和接触限制）与健康和幸福感下降有关。大量疫情前的研究确定了体育锻炼对身心健康的有益影响。
我们报告了一项远程体育锻炼干预措施的可行性及其在两个未经训练的队列中的压力缓冲潜力：一个是2019年完成干预的新冠疫情前队列，另一个是在与疫情相关的限制措施实施前不久开始干预的封锁队列。
在一项随机对照试验中，参与者被分配到干预组（IG；新冠疫情前队列：n = 7，封锁队列：n = 9）或对照组（CG；新冠疫情前队列：n = 6，封锁队列：n = 6）。IG参与者通过基于网络的支持每周收到个性化的训练建议。干预期最初计划为8周，新冠疫情前队列坚持了该计划（平均8.3周，标准差0.5周），但封锁队列延长至平均17.7（标准差2.0）周。在干预前后评估参与者的健康参数：通过心肺运动试验将有氧能力测量为峰值摄氧量（VO）。通过简明症状量表-18的抑郁分量表对抑郁症状进行评分。
IG组两个队列的退出率都很低（新冠疫情前队列：n = 0，0%；封锁队列：n = 2，16.7%），CG组也是如此（新冠疫情前队列：n = 0，0%；封锁队列：n = 2，20%）。两个队列中IG组对训练课程的平均依从率为84%（新冠疫情前队列：标准差5.5%；封锁队列：标准差11.6%）。封锁队列中的秩和转换方差分析表明，CG组干预前后VO和抑郁症状恶化，但IG组无纵向变化。新冠疫情前队列的分析显示，与CG组相比，IG组的VO显著增加（P = 0.04），但对抑郁症状无干预效果。
由于退出率低且依从性高，远程干预对于正常情况下以及面对与疫情相关压力源的健康成年人是可行的。此外，我们的结果暗示了在疫情情况下远程体育锻炼干预具有压力缓冲作用以及对封锁导致的身体机能下降的缓冲作用，这可用于未来研究以克服生活中同样压力大的时期。然而，由于统计效力有限，这些发现应在类似场景中重复验证。
德国临床试验注册中心DRKS00018078；https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00018078 。
