Does pre-existent physical inactivity have a role in the severity of COVID-19?

Yuan et al., Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, doi:10.1177/17534666211025221, Jun 2021
Mortality 91% improvement lower risk ← → higher risk Severe case 70% Exercise for COVID-19  Yuan et al.  PROPHYLAXIS Does physical activity reduce risk for COVID-19? Retrospective 164 patients in China (February - March 2020) Lower severe cases with higher activity levels (p=0.033) c19early.org Yuan et al., Therapeutic Advances in R.., Jun 2021 0 0.5 1 1.5 2+ RR
Exercise for COVID-19
9th treatment shown to reduce risk in October 2020, now with p < 0.00000000001 from 68 studies.
No treatment is 100% effective. Protocols combine treatments.
6,300+ studies for 210+ treatments. c19early.org
Retrospective 164 COVID-19 patients in China, showing physical inactivity associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19.
Standard of Care (SOC) for COVID-19 in the study country, China, is average with moderate efficacy for approved treatments1.
risk of death, 90.5% lower, RR 0.09, p = 0.09, high activity levels 0 of 61 (0.0%), low activity levels 6 of 103 (5.8%), NNT 17, relative risk is not 0 because of continuity correction due to zero events (with reciprocal of the contrasting arm), excluded in exclusion analyses: excessive unadjusted differences between groups.
risk of severe case, 70.0% lower, RR 0.30, p = 0.03, high activity levels 3 of 61 (4.9%), low activity levels 26 of 103 (25.2%), NNT 4.9, adjusted per study, inverted to make RR<1 favor high activity levels, odds ratio converted to relative risk, multivariable.
Effect extraction follows pre-specified rules prioritizing more serious outcomes. Submit updates
Yuan et al., 20 Jun 2021, retrospective, China, peer-reviewed, 9 authors, study period 15 February, 2020 - 14 March, 2020.
$0 $500 $1,000+ Efficacy vs. cost for COVID-19 treatment protocols c19early.org November 2025 China United Kingdom Russia USA Sudan Angola Colombia Kenya Mozambique Pakistan Argentina Vietnam Peru Philippines Spain Brazil Italy France Japan Nepal Ethiopia Iran Ghana Mexico South Korea Germany Bangladesh Saudi Arabia Algeria Morocco Yemen Poland India DR Congo Madagascar Thailand Uganda Venezuela Nigeria Egypt Bolivia Taiwan Zambia Fiji Bosnia-Herzegovina Côte d'Ivoire Eritrea Bulgaria Greece Slovakia Singapore Iceland New Zealand Czechia Mongolia Israel Trinidad and Tobago Hong Kong North Macedonia Belarus Qatar Panama Serbia CAR China favored low-cost treatments.The average efficacy of treatments was moderate.Low-cost treatments improve early treatment, andprovide complementary/synergistic benefits. More effective More expensive 75% 50% 25% ≤0%
$0 $500 $1,000+ Efficacy vs. cost for COVID-19treatment protocols worldwide c19early.org November 2025 China United Kingdom Russia USA Sudan Angola Colombia Kenya Mozambique Pakistan Argentina Vietnam Peru Philippines Spain Brazil Italy France Japan Nepal Ethiopia Iran Ghana Mexico South Korea Germany Bangladesh Saudi Arabia Algeria Morocco Yemen Poland India DR Congo Madagascar Thailand Uganda Venezuela Nigeria Egypt Bolivia Taiwan Zambia Fiji Côte d'Ivoire Eritrea Togo Bulgaria Greece Slovakia Singapore New Zealand Malawi Czechia Mongolia Israel Trinidad and Tobago North Macedonia Belarus Qatar Panama Serbia Syria China favored low-cost treatments.The average efficacy was moderate.Low-cost protocols improve early treatment,and add complementary/synergistic benefits. More effective More expensive 75% 50% 25% ≤0%
Does pre-existent physical inactivity have a role in the severity of COVID-19?
Qilin Yuan, Hua-Yao Huang, Xiao-Ling Chen, Rong-Hua Chen, Yixian Zhang, Xiao-Bin Pan, Jun-Nian Chen, Nan Liu, Houwei Du
Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, doi:10.1177/17534666211025221
Background and Aims: Physical inactivity is considered an important lifestyle factor for overweight and cardiovascular disease. We aimed to investigate the association between preexistent physical inactivity and the risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: We included 164 (61.8 ± 13.6 years) patients with COVID-19 who were admitted between 15 February and 14 March 2020 in this retrospective study. We evaluated the association between pre-existent physical inactivity and severe COVID-19 using a logistic regression model. Results: Of 164 eligible patients with COVID-19, 103 (62.8%) were reported to be physically inactive. Univariable logistic regression analysis showed that physical inactivity was associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 [unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 6.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.88-22.62]. In the multivariable regression analysis, physical inactivity remained significantly associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 (adjusted OR 4.12, 95% CI 1.12-15.14) after adjustment for age, sex, stroke, and overweight. Conclusion: Our data showed that pre-existent physical inactivity was associated with an increased risk of experiencing severe COVID-19. Our findings indicate that people should be encouraged to keep physically active to be at a lower risk of experiencing a severe illness when COVID-19 infection seems unpredicted. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section.
Conflict of interest statement The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. Funding The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Fujian Natural Science Foundation (2018J01309) and the Fujian Provincial Natural and Science Innovation Project (No. 2016B014). On behalf of the Fujian Medical Team Support Wuhan for COVID-19. ORCID iD Qilin Yuan https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8941-0863 Supplemental material The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section.
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DOI record: { "DOI": "10.1177/17534666211025221", "ISSN": [ "1753-4666", "1753-4666" ], "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17534666211025221", "abstract": "<jats:sec><jats:title>Background and Aims:</jats:title><jats:p> Physical inactivity is considered an important lifestyle factor for overweight and cardiovascular disease. We aimed to investigate the association between pre-existent physical inactivity and the risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods:</jats:title><jats:p> We included 164 (61.8 ± 13.6 years) patients with COVID-19 who were admitted between 15 February and 14 March 2020 in this retrospective study. We evaluated the association between pre-existent physical inactivity and severe COVID-19 using a logistic regression model. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results:</jats:title><jats:p> Of 164 eligible patients with COVID-19, 103 (62.8%) were reported to be physically inactive. Univariable logistic regression analysis showed that physical inactivity was associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 [unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 6.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.88–22.62]. In the multivariable regression analysis, physical inactivity remained significantly associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 (adjusted OR 4.12, 95% CI 1.12–15.14) after adjustment for age, sex, stroke, and overweight. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion:</jats:title><jats:p> Our data showed that pre-existent physical inactivity was associated with an increased risk of experiencing severe COVID-19. Our findings indicate that people should be encouraged to keep physically active to be at a lower risk of experiencing a severe illness when COVID-19 infection seems unpredicted. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section. </jats:p></jats:sec>", "alternative-id": [ "10.1177/17534666211025221" ], "author": [ { "ORCID": "http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8941-0863", "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Neurology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, China, and Institute of Clinical Neurology, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China" } ], "authenticated-orcid": false, "family": "Yuan", "given": "Qilin", "sequence": "first" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Rehabilitation, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, China" } ], "family": "Huang", "given": "Hua-yao", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Infectious Disease, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, China" } ], "family": "Chen", "given": "Xiao-ling", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Neurology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, China, and 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