The study, conducted by researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in California, was published online April 13 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It included 48,440 adult patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis from January to October 2020 with at least three outpatient visits with an exercise vital sign measure between March 2018 and March 2020.
Patients who reported exercising 150 minutes or more each week were considered regularly physically active while those who exercised 10 minutes or less each week were deemed as consistently inactive. Those who got in 11 to 149 minutes of exercise each week were considered somewhat active.
The study also found that inactive COVID-19 patients were 120% more likely to require hospitalization, 110% more likely to need critical care admission and 132% more likely to die compared with people who said they exercised 11 to 149 minutes each week.
COVID-19 patients with sedentary lifestyles have a higher chance of dying mashable.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mashable.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A sedentary lifestyle is associated with more severe COVID-19 infection and an increased risk of dying from the viral disease, according to a large-scale study. Researchers, including those from the University of California San Diego, found that COVID-19 patients in the US who were consistently inactive during the two years preceding the pandemic were more likely to be admitted to hospital. Inactive patients were also more likely to require intensive care, and die compared to those who had consistently met physical activity guidelines, they said. The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that physical inactivity was surpassed only by advanced age and a history of organ transplant as a risk factor for severe disease.
Couch potatoes two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by Covid, study finds
Updated: 13 Apr 2021, 21:15
COUCH potatoes are up to two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by Covid, research reveals.
U.S. experts found inactive adults were at more than double the risk of being admitted to hospital with the virus compared to those getting regular exercise.
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Couch potatoes are two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by Covid, research foundCredit: Alamy
Researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, California, compared outcomes in 48,440 Covid patients.
Inactivity was found to be the third biggest risk factor for severe illness – worse than smoking, or having heart disease or diabetes.