Changes in Physical Health-Related Indexes of Chinese College Students before and after COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused negative impacts on people’s lifestyles, as well as considerable indirect social impacts, which has even overshadowed the direct impact of virus infection itself. This study is aimed at examining the changes in physical health-related indexes of Chinese college students before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. The data of this study are from the National Physical Health Testing Program, covering 43 college students (male: 22) from a class of a Chinese university. Paired $t$ -tests were performed on the physical health test data separately collected in November 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and October 2020 after the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted. As shown by the test results, compared to the prelockdown data, college students had an increased body mass index (BMI) (0.43 (SD 0.94) $P=0.004$ ), decreased vital capacity (VC) (-128.98 (SD 310.13) ml $P=0.009$ ), and lowered performance in the 800/1000 m endurance (-6.21 (SD 8.81) points $P<0.001$ ) and standing long jump tests (-2.44 (SD 7.37) points $P=0.036$ ) after the lockdown, and the differences in these regards all were significant. In addition, for the students in the overweight/obese group, their pre- and postlockdown physical fitness test results were found to have no statistically significant difference ( $P>0.05$ ), but the students in the control group showed a significantly increased BMI, as well as significantly decreased vital capacity and performance in the 800/1000 m endurance and standing long jump tests ( $P<0.05$ ). The findings of this study are expected to help government departments and policymakers better understand the impacts of school closures and online learning on the physical health of adolescents, while providing a basis for the formulation of measures that are aimed at reversing adolescents’ physical health decline.