The Deconditioning Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Unaffected Healthy Children

• Published in: Pediatric cardiology Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 554 - 559
• Main Authors: Dayton, Jeffrey D., Ford, Kelley, Carroll, Sheila J., Flynn, Patrick A., Kourtidou, Soultana, Holzer, Ralf J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-03-2021; Springer
• Subjects: Adolescent; Canada; Cardiac Surgery; Cardiology; Case-Control Studies; Children's furniture; Cohort Studies; Comparative analysis; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - physiopathology; Epidemics; Exercise - physiology; Female; Health Status; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; New York; New York - epidemiology; Original; Original Article; Oxygen Consumption - physiology; Pandemics; Pediatric cardiology; Physical Fitness - physiology; Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Schools; Vascular Surgery; New York; Canada; COVID-19; VO; Functional capacity; VO2
• ISSN: 0172-0643; 1432-1971
• DOI: 10.1007/s00246-020-02513-w

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating direct consequences on the health of affected patients. It has also had a significant impact on the ability of unaffected children to be physically active. We evaluated the effect of deconditioning from social distancing and school shutdowns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic on the cardiovascular fitness of healthy unaffected children. This is a single-center, retrospective case–control study performed in an urban tertiary referral center. A cohort of 10 healthy children that underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing after COVID-19 hospital restrictions were lifted was compared to a matched cohort before COVID-19-related shutdowns on school and after-school activities. Comparisons of oxygen uptake (VO
2
) max and VO
2
at anaerobic threshold between the pre- and post-COVID-19 cohorts were done. The VO
2
max in the post-COVID cohort was significantly lower than in the pre-COVID cohort (39.1 vs. 44.7,
p
 = 0.031). Only one out of ten patients had a higher VO
2
max when compared to their matched pre-COVID control and was also the only patient with a documented history of participation in varsity-type athletics. The percentile of predicted VO
2
was significantly lower in the post-COVID cohort (95% vs. 105%,
p
 = 0.042). This study for the first time documented a significant measurable decline in physical fitness of healthy children as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions. Measures need to be identified that encourage and facilitate regular exercise in children in a way that are not solely dependent on school and organized after-school activities.