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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1468300

COVID-19 Incidence and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Among First-Year College Students

Provisionally accepted
Catherine Alvaro Catherine Alvaro *Kyle Levers Kyle Levers Matthew Barberio Matthew Barberio Yichen Jin Yichen Jin Andrew Stranieri Andrew Stranieri Jennifer Sacheck Jennifer Sacheck
  • Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: With the emergence of the COVID-19 virus, there was a widespread infection rate among college campuses, creating a need to understand the impact of COVID-19 infection on the health and wellbeing of adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine COVID-19 incidence and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) among undergraduate students in the two years post-COVID-19 pandemic lock-down. Participants: Participants (n=151) included undergraduate college freshmen students during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years. Methods: A series of annual surveys (n=151) and laboratory measures among a sub-sample of participants (n=28) were conducted to assess COVID-19 incidence, CRF, anthropometrics, and physical activity (PA). Results: Over half of participants self-reported COVID-19 infection (59%), “good” or better CRF, a healthy body mass index (BMI), and 25% met PA recommendations. Nearly a quarter, (24%) perceived a negative impact of COVID-19 on their CRF and although not statistically significant, participants who contracted COVID-19 had 46% lower odds of having a positive perception of CRF than those who did not contract COVID-19 before. However, students who were more physically active were more likely to perceive a negative impact of COVID-19 incidence on their CRF (p=0.035). Conclusion: Although no relationship was detected between COVID-19 and CRF, those who perceived a negative impact of COVID-19 on their CRF reported engaging in more physical activity.

    Keywords: COVID-19, cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, college students, Perceived health

    Received: 21 Jul 2024; Accepted: 01 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Alvaro, Levers, Barberio, Jin, Stranieri and Sacheck. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Catherine Alvaro, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.