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Cited by 2,073Physical Activity and HealthNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorCOVID-19 and Mental Health

Effects of COVID-19 home confinement on eating behaviour and physical activity: results of the ECLB-COVID19 international online survey

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Ammar, Achraf, Brach, Michael, Trabelsi, Khaled, Chtourou, Hamdi, Boukhris, Omar, Masmoudi, Liwa, Bouaziz, Bassem, Bentlage, Ellen +49 more·2020·Nutrients
DOI 10.3390/nu12061583PMC PMC7352706

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Public health recommendations and governmental measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in numerous restrictions on daily living including social distancing, isolation and home confinement. While these measures are imperative to abate the spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on health behaviours and lifestyles at home is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey was launched in April 2020, in seven languages, to elucidate the behavioural and lifestyle consequences of COVID-19 restrictions. This report presents the results from the first thousand responders on physical activity (PA) and nutrition behaviours. METHODS: Following a structured review of the literature, the "Effects of home Confinement on multiple Lifestyle Behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak (ECLB-COVID19)" Electronic survey was designed by a steering group of multidisciplinary scientists and academics. The survey was uploaded and shared on the Google online survey platform. Thirty-five research organisations from Europe, North-Africa, Western Asia and the Americas promoted the survey in English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Slovenian languages. Questions were presented in a differential format, with questions related to responses "before" and "during" confinement conditions. RESULTS: 1047 replies (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%) and other (3%) were included in the analysis. The COVID-19 home confinement had a negative effect on all PA intensity levels (vigorous, moderate, walking and overall). Additionally, daily sitting time increased from 5 to 8 h per day. Food consumption and meal patterns (the type of food, eating out of control, snacks between meals, number of main meals) were more unhealthy during confinement, with only alcohol binge drinking decreasing significantly. CONCLUSION: While isolation is a necessary measure to protect public health, results indicate that it alters physical activity and eating behaviours in a health compromising direction. A more detailed analysis of survey data will allow for a segregation of these responses in different age groups, countries and other subgroups, which will help develop interventions to mitigate the negative lifestyle behaviours that have manifested during the COVID-19 confinement.

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  • In Ammar et al. (2020), time spent for physical activity decreased under confinement (days/week 24%; min/day 33.5%), while sedentary behavior increased from 5 to 8 h/day.

    “The time spent for physical activity decreased under the confinement condition (days/week, 24%; min/day, 33.5%), whereas sedentary behavior (such as the daily sitting time) significantly increased (from 5 to 8 h/day).”

    From Eating Disorders Spectrum During the COVID Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Ammar et al. (2020)

  • A series of factors may have a detrimental impact on psychological well-being, eating habits, and the onset or recovery of EDs, including disruption to living situations, social distancing restrictions, difficult access to healthcare, and societal changes to food behaviors and technology usage.

    “A series of factors may have a detrimental impact on psychological well-being, eating habits, and the onset or recovery of EDs, including: disruption to living situations, social distancing restrictions, difficult access to healthcare, and societal changes to food behaviors and technology usage (Ammar et al., 2020).”

    From Eating Disorders Spectrum During the COVID Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Ammar et al., 2020

  • In Ammar et al. (2020) survey of 1,047 participants from Asia, Africa, and Europe, participants increased consumption of unhealthy food, frequency of main meals, and snacking between meals, with a subjective sense of eating out of control.

    “Participants increased the consumption of unhealthy food, and the frequency of main meals, together with snacking between meals, with a subjective sense of “eating out of control.””

    From Eating Disorders Spectrum During the COVID Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Ammar et al. (2020)

  • Disruption in physical activities and routines was relevant in general population samples and in clinical samples from endocrinology units.

    “Disruption in physical activities and routines was relevant also in general population samples or in clinical samples from endocrinology units (Ammar et al., 2020; Barrea et al., 2020; Haddad et al., 2020; Scharmer et al., 2020).”

    From Eating Disorders Spectrum During the COVID Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Ammar et al., 2020

  • Home confinement had negative effects on physical activity.

    “Moreover, as already noticed, home confinement had negative effects on physical activity (Ammar et al., 2020).”

    From Eating Disorders Spectrum During the COVID Pandemic: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Ammar et al., 2020

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [12]Ammar A. Brach M. Trabelsi K. Chtourou H. Boukhris O. Masmoudi L. Bouaziz B. Bentlage E. How D. Ahmed M. Effects of COVID-19 home confinement on social participation and life satisfaction: Preliminary results of the ECLB-COVID19 international online-survey medRxiv 2020 10.1101/2020.05.05.20091066 PMC7352706 32481594 · DOI
  2. [22]Nutricalc Questionnaire, Swiss Society of Nutrition Available online: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?type=supplementary&id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0143293.s003 (accessed on 16 April 2020) · DOI

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Authors
Ammar, A., Brach, M., Trabelsi, K., Chtourou, H., Boukhris, O., Masmoudi, L., Bouaziz, B., Bentlage, E., How, D., Ahmed, M., Müller, P., Müller, N., Aloui, A., Hammouda, O., Paineiras-Domingos, L., Braakman-Jansen, A., Wrede, C., Bastoni, S., Pernambuco, C., Mataruna, L., Taheri, M., Irandoust, K., Khacharem, A., Bragazzi, N., Chamari, K., Glenn, J., Bott, N., Gargouri, F., Chaari, L., Batatia, H., Ali, G., Abdelkarim, O., Jarraya, M., El Abed, K., Souissi, N., Van Gemert-Pijnen, L., Riemann, B., Riemann, L., Moalla, W., Gómez-Raja, J., Epstein, M., Sanderman, R., Schulz, S., Jerg, A., Al-Horani, R., Mansi, T., Jmail, M., Barbosa, F., Ferreira-Santos, F., Šimunič, B., Pišot, R., Gaggioli, A., Bailey, S., Steinacker, J., Driss, T., Hoekelmann, A., & On Behalf of the ECLB-COVID19 Consortium
Affiliations
  • University of Sfax (TN)
  • University of Münster (DE)
  • German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DE)
  • University of Gafsa (TN)
  • Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
  • Department of Psychology, Health & Technology, University of Twente, 7522 Enschede, The Netherland
  • University of Twente (NL)
  • Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (IT)
  • Estácio (Brazil) (BR)
  • College of Business Administration, American University in the Emirates, 503000 Dubai Academic City, Dubai, UAE
  • Imam Khomeini International University (IR)
  • Université Paris-Est Créteil (FR)
  • York University (CA)
  • Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital (QA)
  • University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Higher Institute of Computer Science and Multimedia of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
  • Computer science department, University of Toulouse, IRIT-INP-ENSEEIHT (UMR 5505), BP 7122, 31500 Toulouse, France
  • Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse (FR)
  • Assiut University (EG)
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
  • High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
  • Research Unit: Physical Activity, Sport, and Health, UR18JS01, National Observatory of Sport, Tunis 1003, Tunisia
  • Georgia Southern University (US)
  • Savannah College of Art and Design (US)
  • FundeSalud, Dept. of Health and Social Services, Government of Extremadura, 06800 Merida, Spain
  • E-Seniors (FR)
  • University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
  • Universität Ulm (DE)
  • Yarmouk University (JO)
  • University of Jordan (JO)
  • Digital Research Centre of Sfax (TN)
  • Universidade do Porto (PT)
  • Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
  • Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper (SI)
  • Loughborough University (GB)
  • Université Paris Nanterre (FR)
  • Institute of Sport Science, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Corresponding author
Ammar, Achraf
ORCID
Venue
Nutrients
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-05-28
Volume
12
Issue
6
Pages
1583
ISSN
2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/nu12061583
PMC
PMC7352706
OpenAlex
W3029840069
Cited by
2,073
References
25
Citations by year
2026: 49 · 2025: 91 · 2024: 193 · 2023: 359 · 2022: 583 · 2021: 660 · 2020: 132 · 2018: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
260.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DiRROS repository (University of Maribor) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Twente Research Information (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubliCatt (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • URN:NBN Resolver for Germany & Switzerland (German National Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DZNE Pub (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster (cc-by)
Funders
University of Waterloo
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, home confinement, physical activity, eating behaviour, nutrition behaviour, sedentary behavior, sitting time, meal patterns, dietary intake, binge drinking, social distancing, lifestyle habits
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Adult, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Surveys and Questionnaires, Health Behavior, Exercise, Coronavirus Infections, Young Adult, Pandemics, Meals, Snacks

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