Study finds high levels of physical activity lowered risk of developing COVID-19 infection and hospitalization

A cohort study of older adults found that those who followed recommended exercise guidelines before the pandemic had significantly lower odds of being infected or hospitalized from COVID-19 than those who did not follow guidelines

Need another reason to keep up with your exercise routine? Staying active just might protect you from infection and hospitalization from COVID-19. A new study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of Mass General Brigham, suggests that higher levels of physical activity before the pandemic began in 2020 were associated with a lower likelihood of contracting COVID-19 or developing an infection from it that was severe enough to require hospitalization. The study found that adults who adhered to U.S. and World Health Organization physical activity guidelines before the pandemic had 10 percent lower odds of becoming infected with COVID-19 and 27 percent lower odds of being hospitalized from it compared to people who were inactive. The results are published in JAMA Network Open.

“The COVID-19 pandemic provided a very unique opportunity to look at a potential benefit of physical activity from data that was collected before it began,” said lead author Dennis Muñoz Vergara, DVM, MPH, instructor at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The study combined data from three ongoing, prospective, randomized clinical trial cohorts (COSMOS, VITAL and WHS) and included 61,557 adults with an average age of 76, who provided prepandemic self-reports on lifestyle factors and exercise, including the time they spent on activities such as biking, walking, running, and climbing stairs. Participants were then categorized as either inactive, insufficiently active, or sufficiently active based on physical activity guidelines. From May 2020 through May 2022, those sufficiently active had a 10% reduction in COVID-19 infection and 27% reduction in hospitalization due to COVID-19 compared to those inactive. The findings also suggest that the benefits of physical activity on COVID-19 may be stronger in females.