Self-perception of health and physical activity among adults before and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: United States, 2019–2020

Highlights

• Self-perceptions of health are sensitive to inequalities.

• Over half of U.S. adults did not perform any muscle strengthening exercise in 2019.

• The number of inactive people has slightly increased in 2020.

• Physical inactivity was associated with negative health perception.

Abstract

The compounded impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on self-perception of health (SPoH) and physical activity (PA) levels among U.S. adults remains to be explored. We sought to: (1) describe the SPoH and PA levels among U.S. adults; (2) explore the relationship between SPoH and PA before and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed data from the 2019 and 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11th, 2020. This date was chosen to demarcate the responses as before and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Weighted prevalence estimates were presented alongside adjusted odds ratios from multivariable logistic regression of general SPoH and PA levels for U.S. adults before and amidst COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed data for 9328 participants. Over half of the U.S. adult population reported performing no muscle strengthening exercise in 2019. The number of inactive people has slightly increased in 2020 (27.8%), compared to 2019 (26.5%). Overall, levels of PA for active people were comparable in 2020 pre and post the WHO pandemic declaration date (36.4% and 39.8%; respectively). Higher odds of negative SPoH were observed among black individuals, current cigarettes smokers, with annual income less than $35,000, physically inactive individuals, people who do not perform muscle-strengthening exercise, and who were very obese. Negative SPoH were associated with lack of moderate exercise, and lack of muscle-strengthening training among U.S. adults before and amidst the pandemic. Pandemic policies and recommendations should include and facilitate PA, specifically among vulnerable populations.