Effects of the interruption of an exercise program on the physical capacity of older adults and its association with health perception in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic represents a great threat to older adults due to the negative impact in physical health and the increased risk for anxiety and depression, which can lead to worse self-rated health. Objective: To analyze how the self-rated health is related to physical health, depressive symptoms and stress perception in older people who practiced supervised and group physical exercise in the pre-pandemic period, and had their face-to-face activities interrupted. Method: This is a retrospective longitudinal analysis, in which older adults (> 60 y.) enrolled in a university extension project at UFSCar will be invited to participate. They were assessed in March 2020 and, as soon as the face-to-face activities of the project restart, they will be invited to participate in the study. The older adults will be assessed regarding their self-rated of global and physical health. Mental health will be assessed by the "Perceived Stress Scale" and the presence of depressive symptoms will be assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale. Physical health will be assessed by Timed Up and Go, handgrip strength, 30-second sit and stand, unipodal support and six-minute walk tests. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test will be applied to verify the normality of the data, and the t-student test will be applied to analyze the results of the physical health tests. Pearson or Spearman tests will be used to analyze the correlation between mental health aspects and the deltas of change in physical health (post minus pre-assessment).