Takeaway
- Estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF) had no significant association with the risk of testing positive for COVID-19.
- However, people with moderate or higher eCRF had a significantly lower risk of dying from COVID-19.
Why this matters
- Physical activity is a modifiable behaviour that positively affects CRF and an effective intervention to reduce the negative health effects of COVID-19 lockdowns.
- The findings provide additional support to these recommendations and suggest that prior physical activity may offer protection against dying from COVID-19.
Study design
- A prospective cohort study of 2690 participants from the UK Biobank who were tested for COVID-19.
- CRF was estimated using maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max) and classified as low (<20th percentile), moderate (20th to <80th percentile) and high (≥80th percentile) within sex and 10-year age groups.
- Funding: None.
Key results
- Of 2690 participants, 346 tested positive for COVID-19.
- No difference was seen in the mean estimated VO2 max between those who were tested for COVID-19 (27.3±5.5 mL/kg/min) and those who tested positive for COVID-19 (27.3±5.4 mL/kg/min).
- Moderate (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 0.93; 95% CI, 0.72-1.21) and high eCRF (aRR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.52-1.15) vs low eCRF were not associated with an increased risk of testing positive for COVID-19.
- Conversely, low eCRF vs moderate and high eCRF was associated with >2 times higher risk of dying from COVID-19 (aRR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.35-4.05).
- Compared with low eCRF, the risk of dying from COVID-19 increased with (aRR; 95% CI):
- moderate eCRF (0.43; 0.25-0.75); and
- high eCRF (0.37; 0.16-0.85).
Limitations
- Approximate 10-year lag between baseline measurements and COVID-19 testing.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
