Cardiovascular Fitness Assessment through 3 Minutes Step Test in Adults of Lahore during COVID-19 Pandemic

Ali Raza; Sajjad Ali Sajjad; Arif Ali Rana; Arshia Ijaz; Muhammad Asif; Abdullah  Zulfiqar

doi:10.54393/tt.v2i2.28

Authors

Ali Raza Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Central Park Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan
Sajjad Ali Sajjad ABWA College of Physical Therapy, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Arif Ali Rana Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Central Park Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan
Arshia Ijaz Department of Physical Therapy, Rehab 92, Health City Hospital, WAPDA Town Lahore, Pakistan
Muhammad Asif Department of Physical Therapy, Royal Institute of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
Abdullah Zulfiqar Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Central Park Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54393/tt.v2i2.28

Keywords:

COVID-19, Pandemic, Aerobic Capacity, Cardiac Fitness, Middle-Aged

Abstract

At the end of the year, 2019 world witnessed a disease, which is still affecting the world, this disease was named Corona Virus Disease -19 (COVID-19). It is a highly infectious disease that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. Objective: To find out the impact of COVID-19 on the cardiac fitness of young and middle-aged adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at ON-Campus Physiotherapy Clinic at University of Management and Technology, Lahore. Convenient sampling was used. The sample size was 437. Healthy participants from both genders aging 17-45 years were recruited in the study. A self-designed questionnaire validated through a pilot study was used to record the data. Three minutes step test was performed and pre and post-test Cardiac rate were recorded. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows was used to record and analyze all data. Results: Results showed that the female participants were 271 (59.7%) while males were 176(41.3%), young adults proportion was 76% while middle-aged adults was 24%.The overall results of the post-test 3-minutes step test show that a majority of the population30.7 % (n=134) had excellent cardiac rate, a good proportion of the sample had the same value for Good and above-average cardiac rates (f=22.4 %, n= 98) while fewer number participants fall in rest of the categories such as average, below average, poor and very poor ( 12. %, 7.1%, 3.0 %, 2.3 %) respectively. Conclusions: The study concluded that the overall cardiac capacity of young and older adults is not affected by the pandemic but the females have a better cardiac condition as compared to men.

References

Crameri GAG, Bielecki M, Züst R, Buehrer TW, Stanga Z and Deuel JW. Reduced maximal aerobic capacity after COVID-19 in young adult recruits, Switzerland, May 2020. Euro Surveill. 2020;25(36):2001542. doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.36.2001542.

Ali M, de Azevedo AR, Marvila MT, Khan MI, Memon AM and Masood F et al. The influence of COVID-19-induced daily activities on health parameters—a case study in Malaysia. 2021;13(13):7465. DOI: 10.3390/su13137465.

Yazdanpanah F, Hamblin MR and Rezaei N. The immune system and COVID-19: Friend or foe?. Life Sci. 2020;256:117900. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2020.117900.

Gasmi A, Noor S, Tippairote T, Dadar M, Menzel A and Bjørklund G. Individual risk management strategy and potential therapeutic options for the COVID-19 pandemic. Clin Immunol. 2020;215:108409. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2020.108409.

Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, Wang X, Zhou L and Tong Y et al. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(13):1199-1207. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001316.

Sethi BA, Sethi A, Ali S and Aamir HS. Impact of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on health professionals. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(COVID19-S4):S6-S11. doi: 10.12669/pjms.36.COVID19-S4.2779.

Mucci F, Mucci N and Diolaiuti F. Lockdown and Isolation: Psychological Aspects of Covid-19 Pandemic in the General Population. Clin Neuropsychiatry. 2020;17(2):63-64. doi: 10.36131/CN20200205.

Beato-Víbora PI. RETRACTED: No deleterious effect of lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic on glycaemic control, measured by glucose monitoring, in adults with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2020. doi: 10.1089/dia.2020.0184.

Karnon J. A Simple Decision Analysis of a Mandatory Lockdown Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Appl Health Econ Health Policy. 2020;18(3):329-331. doi:10.1007/s40258-020-00581-w.

Stockwell S, Trott M, Tully M, Shin J, Barnett Y and Butler L et al. Changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviours from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: a systematic review. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2021;7(1):e000960. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-000960.

McGavock JM, Anderson TJ and Lewanczuk RZ. Sedentary lifestyle and antecedents of cardiovascular disease in young adults. Am J Hypertens. 2006;19(7):701-7. doi: 10.1016/j.amjhyper.2006.01.013.

Nabi T, Rafiq N and Qayoom O. Assessment of cardiovascular fitness [VO2 max] among medical students by Queens College step test. International Journal of Biomedical and Advance. 2015;6(5):418-21. doi.org/10.7439/ijbar.v6i5.1965.

Pimentel AE, Gentile CL, Tanaka H, Seals DR and Gates PE. Greater rate of decline in maximal aerobic capacity with age in endurance-trained than in sedentary men. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2003;94(6):2406-13. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00774.2002.

Syamsudin F, Wungu CDK, Qurnianingsih E and Herawati L. High-intensity interval training for improving maximum aerobic capacity in women with sedentary lifestyle: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Physical Education and Sport ®. 2021;21(4):1788-97. doi:10.7752/jpes.2021.04226.

Miao B, Hernandez AV, Roman YM, Alberts MJ, Coleman CI and Baker WL. Four-year incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerosis and atrial fibrillation. Clin Cardiol. 2020;43(5):524-531. doi: 10.1002/clc.23344.

Gallagher D, Terenzi T and de Meersman R. Heart rate variability in smokers, sedentary and aerobically fit individuals. Clin Auton Res. 1992;2(6):383-7. doi: 10.1007/BF01831395.

Hurwitz BE, Coryell VT, Parker M, Martin P, Laperriere A and Klimas NG et al. Chronic fatigue syndrome: illness severity, sedentary lifestyle, blood volume and evidence of diminished cardiac function. Clin Sci (Lond). 2009;118(2):125-35. doi: 10.1042/CS20090055.

Moreno-Camacho CA, Montoya-Torres JR, Jaegler A and Gondran N. Sustainability metrics for real case applications of the supply chain network design problem: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019;231:600-18. doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.278.

Bhat D and V.K.Patil. Human Age Group Classification Using Facial Features. International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research. 2016;3.

Adams R. Revised Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire. Can Fam Physician. 1999;45:992, 995, 1004-5.

Rao AV, Phadke AV, Patil PB and Joshi AR. Comparison of non-exercise test and step test in estimation of aerobic capacity (VO2max) in young adults. National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 2014;4(3):218-20. doi:10.5455/njppp.2014.4.150420141.

Ishiko T. Aerobic capacity and external criteria of performance. Can Med Assoc J. 1967;96(12):746-751.

Carnethon MR, Gidding SS, Nehgme R, Sidney S, Jacobs DR Jr and Liu K. Cardiorespiratory fitness in young adulthood and the development of cardiovascular disease risk factors. JAMA. 2003;290(23):3092-100. doi: 10.1001/jama.290.23.3092.

Bruce RA. Methods of exercise testing. Step test, bicycle, treadmill, isometrics. Am J Cardiol. 1974;33(6):715-20. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(74)90211-2.

Bruce RA and McDonough JR. Stress testing in screening for cardiovascular disease. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 1969;45(12):1288.

Hingorjo MR, Zehra S, Hasan Z and Qureshi MA. Cardiorespiratory fitness and its association with adiposity indices in young adults. Pak J Med Sci. 2017;33(3):659-664. doi: 10.12669/pjms.333.12294.

Cooney JK, Moore JP, Ahmad YA, Jones JG, Lemmey AB and Casanova F et al. A simple step test to estimate cardio-respiratory fitness levels of rheumatoid arthritis patients in a clinical setting. Int J Rheumatol. 2013;2013:174541. doi: 10.1155/2013/174541.

Petrella RJ, Koval JJ, Cunningham DA and Paterson DH. A self-paced step test to predict aerobic fitness in older adults in the primary care clinic. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2001;49(5):632-8. doi: 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49124.x.

Pribis P, Burtnack CA, McKenzie SO and Thayer J. Trends in body fat, body mass index and physical fitness among male and female college students. Nutrients. 2010;2(10):1075-85. doi: 10.3390/nu2101075.

Koju B, Chaudhary S, Shrestha A and Joshi LR. Cardio-respiratory Fitness in Medical Students by Queen’s College Step Test: A Cross-sectional Study. Journal of Lumbini Medical College. 2019;7(1):29-33. doi.org/10.22502/jlmc.v7i1.268.