AUTHOR=Alvaro Catherine E. , Levers Kyle S. , Barberio Matthew D. , Jin Yichen , Stranieri Andrew M. , Sacheck Jennifer M. 

TITLE=COVID-19 incidence and cardiorespiratory fitness among first-year college students

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1468300

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1468300

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Objective</title><p>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 2 years post-COVID-19 pandemic lock-down.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Participants</title><p>Participants (<italic>n</italic> = 151) included undergraduate college freshmen students during the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 academic years.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>A series of annual surveys (<italic>n</italic> = 151) and laboratory measures among a sub-sample of participants (<italic>n</italic> = 28) were conducted to assess COVID-19 incidence, CRF, anthropometrics, and physical activity (PA).</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>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 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.035).</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Conclusion</title><p>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.</p></sec>