Trends in lifestyle and mental health among 0.1 million Chinese: a longitudinal study pre- and post-COVID-19.

BACKGROUND

To investigate the changes in lifestyle and mental conditions during the COVID-19 lockdown pre- and post-COVID-19 epidemic by analysing 0.1 million in the general population.

METHODS

A questionnaire was used to collect demographic, lifestyle and mental condition information. Descriptive and χ2 tests were utilized to analyse the differences among the three groups. Multiple linear regression models were used to assess the impact of mental status.

RESULTS

This study involved a total of 141 250 participants, with 68 533 individuals in 2019 (pre-COVID-19), 53 956 in 2021 (lockdown period) and 18 761 in 2023 (post-COVID-19). During the period of lockdown and post-COVID-19, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of male smokers, decreasing from 39.2% before the epidemic to 36.6% during the lockdown period and to 34.8% after the epidemic. The proportion of people with good dietary habits increased slightly during the lockdown period (71.2% vs 68.4%) and remained at 71.8% after the epidemic. The 30- to 39-y age group had the greatest increase in engaging in physical activity. Multiple regression analysis showed that mental health status is associated with age, gender, dietary habits, physical activity and sleeping condition.

CONCLUSIONS

The general population is well adapted to the COVID-19 epidemic and can actively face the impact of the epidemic. Furthermore, the alarm triggered by the outbreak has cause people pay more attention to a healthy lifestyle.