Abstract Background Aging is generally accompanied by decreasing physical activity (PA), which is associated with a decline in many health parameters, leading to recommendations for older adults to increase or at least maintain PA. Methods We determined relationships between social connectedness and decreasing or increasing PA levels during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic among 41 443 participants of the Women’s Health Initiative Extension Study. Outcomes of logistic regression models were decreasing PA activity (reference: maintaining or increasing) and increasing PA activity (reference: maintaining or decreasing). The main predictor was social connectedness as a combined variable: not living alone (reference: living alone) and communicating with others outside the home more than once/week (reference: once/week or less). We adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, body mass index, physical function level, and education. Results Compared with participants who were not socially connected, socially connected participants had lower odds of decreasing PA (adjusted odds ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.87–0.95). Odds of increasing PA (vs decreasing or maintaining PA) were not significantly different among socially connected and not socially connected participants. Associations between social connectedness and decreasing PA did not significantly differ by age (<85 vs ≥85 years), race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White vs other races/ethnicity), education (college vs <college), use of technology to stay in touch with others, or Research and Development physical function score (≤75 vs >75). Conclusion Social connectedness was associated with lower odds of decreasing PA among older women during the pandemic. These findings could inform the development of future interventions to help older women avoid decreasing PA.

中文翻译：

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参与妇女健康倡议研究的老年妇女在 COVID-19 大流行期间社会联系与体力活动减少的关系


摘要背景 衰老通常伴随着体力活动（PA）的减少，这与许多健康参数的下降有关，因此建议老年人增加或至少维持体力活动。方法 我们确定了 2019 年冠状病毒病大流行期间，女性健康倡议推广研究的 41 443 名参与者的社会联系与 PA 水平降低或升高之间的关系。逻辑回归模型的结果是减少 PA 活性（参考：维持或增加）和增加 PA 活性（参考：维持或减少）。主要预测因素是作为组合变量的社会联系：不独居（参考：独居）以及每周与家庭以外的其他人交流超过一次（参考：每周一次或更少）。我们对年龄、种族、民族、体重指数、身体机能水平和教育程度进行了调整。结果 与没有社交联系的参与者相比，有社交联系的参与者降低 PA 的几率较低（调整后比值比 0.91，95% 置信区间 0.87-0.95）。在有社交联系和无社交联系的参与者中，增加 PA（相对于减少或维持 PA）的几率没有显着差异。社会联系与 PA 下降之间的关联在年龄（<85 与 ≥85 岁）、种族/民族（非西班牙裔白人与其他种族/民族）、教育程度（大学与 < 学院）、技术使用情况等方面没有显着差异与他人接触，或研发身体功能评分（≤75 vs >75）。结论 在大流行期间，社会联系与老年女性 PA 下降的几率较低有关。 这些发现可以为未来干预措施的制定提供信息，以帮助老年妇女避免 PA 下降。