Peer-reviewed article
P05-10 Changes in mental health and physical activity patterns before and during the covid-19 pandemic in Swedish adolescents - a longitudinal study
Nyberg G, Kjellenberg K, Helgadóttir B, Ekblom Ö ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This Swedish longitudinal study tracked 585 adolescents aged 13-14 years from autumn 2019 to spring 2021 to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their mental health and physical activity. The study found that health-related quality of life decreased and psychosomatic problems increased during the pandemic period. However, adolescents who increased their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity showed better mental health outcomes, suggesting physical activity may partially protect against pandemic-related mental health decline.
Key points
- Health-related quality of life significantly decreased between 2019-2021 (p < 0.001)
- Psychosomatic problems significantly increased between 2019-2021 (p < 0.001)
- Both boys and girls were affected similarly by these mental health changes
- There was a significant positive relationship between increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and improvements in health-related quality of life (β = 0.02)
- Sample included 585 adolescents from 34 schools around Stockholm
Limitations
The study only measured physical activity patterns and mental health at two time points (2019 and 2021), limiting understanding of when changes occurred during the pandemic. The findings are specific to Swedish adolescents where COVID-19 restrictions were relatively mild, so results may not generalise to countries with stricter lockdowns.
Abstract
Abstract Background The covid-19 pandemic has had a large impact on the daily lives of adolescents, even in Sweden where the restrictions were relatively mild. The aim of this study was to examine if there had been a change in mental health outcomes and if these changes were related to changes in physical activity patterns before and during the pandemic. Methods In this longitudinal study, data were collected in the autumn 2019 and in follow-up measurements in the spring 2021. Physical activity and sedentary time were measured for seven consecutive days by accelerometry (Actigraph). The mental health outcomes, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychosomatic health were measured with questionnaires (KIDSCREEN-10 and PSP). ANCOVA analyses were applied to estimate the associations between change in physical activity patterns and mental health outcomes. Results In total, 585 boys (45%) and girls (55%), aged 13-14 years (baseline) from 34 schools around Stockholm, were included in the study. Between 2019-2021 there was a decrease in HRQoL (p > 0.001) and increase in psychosomatic problems (p > 0.001) among both boys and girls. There was a significant positive relationship between change in MVPA and change in HRQoL (β = 0.02, CI: 0.00, 0.05). Conclusions The results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has impaired the mental health of Swedish adolescents but increased physical activity was related to positive changes in the mental health outcome HRQoL. Funding: The Public Health Authority and Skandia
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Increased moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
- Population
- Swedish adolescents aged 13-14 years (585 participants, 45% boys and 55% girls from 34 schools around Stockholm)
Key finding
Significant positive relationship between change in MVPA and change in health-related quality of life (β = 0.02, CI: 0.00-0.05)
G et al. · PubMed Central (PMC) · 29 Aug 2022