Engaging in regular physical activity may reduce the risk of acquiring Covid-19 and also decrease the chances of severe infection, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.¹

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 studies (case–control, cross-sectional, prospective and retrospective cohort studies) involving 1,853,610 adults was carried out to determine the association between regular physical activity and risk of Covid-19 and related outcomes such as hospitalization, severe disease and mortality. Relevant studies between November 2019 and March 2022 were searched for on PubMed, Web of Science and SportDiscus databases. More than half of the study population was female and the mean age of the subjects was 53 years. Questionnaires and accelerometers, heart rate monitors, and smart devices were used to evaluate physical activity.

Analysis of data revealed that patients who undertook regular physical activity in a week lowered their risk of infection by 11% with relative risk (RR) of 0.89 compared to those who were physically inactive. The odds of hospitalization, severe infection and covid-related mortality were also reduced among these physically active participants by 36% (RR 0.64), 44% (RR 0.66) and 43% (RR 0.57), respectively.

The beneficial effects of physical activity were highest with a minimum of 500 metabolic equivalent of task (MET) minutes per week of physical activity amounting to  150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 min of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week. No extra benefits were noted for activity further than this level.

This study of nearly 2 million adults illustrates the favorable effects of physical activity on the likelihood of Covid-19 and related adverse outcomes such as severe disease, hospitalizations and even death. According to the authors, regular physical activity exerts its beneficial effects by reducing the cardiometabolic risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension. It also has anti-inflammatory and immune boosting effects.

Hence, clinicians should also recommend regular physical activity as a protective strategy complementary to Covid-appropriate behavior and Covid vaccination particularly for the high-risk individuals. One should aim to achieve at least 500 MET minutes per week of physical activity, as demonstrated in this study. The WHO also recommends that “adults aged 18–64 years should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week.”² However, the researchers caution that they analysed only the Beta and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 and not Omicron, which they note could be a limitation of their study.

References

1. Yasmin Ezzatvar, et al. Physical activity and risk of infection, severity and mortality of COVID-19: a systematic review and non-linear dose-response meta-analysis of data from1 853 610 adults. Br J Sports Med. 2022 Aug 22;bjsports-2022-105733. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105733.
2. Physical activity. WHO Fact Sheet. 26 November 2020.