US adults, particularly those with obesity, gained weight during COVID-19 lockdown
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The stay-at-home mandates to limit the spread of COVID-19 were associated with greater reported weight gain among adults with obesity during 3 months, according to study data published in Obesity.
Researchers conducted an observational cohort study aimed to assess the weight gain by BMI for adults during the COVID-19 lockdown in the U.S., and the behavioral and psychosocial effects of this potential weight gain.
“We observed that state stay-at-home mandates, designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, had unintended consequences of promoting weight gain that disproportionately impacted individuals with obesity,” Adam Seal, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and colleagues wrote. “In light of these data, as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, it may be even more important to support programs and lifestyle interventions to reduce body weight, increase physical activity and promote mental health.”
The researchers administered a national questionnaire in May 2020 and again in August 2020, with 1,516 adults (78.8% women; 86.7% white; 26.7% with obesity) responding both times. The questionnaire asked about height, weight, physical activity levels and dietary information as well as psychosocial and behavioral information, such as depressive symptoms, stress levels and sleep patterns. The researchers used the Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to measure depressive symptoms among participants.
At 3 months, about 30% of all participants reported any weight gain from baseline, with 18.4% reporting weight gain of more than 2 kg, a nearly 1% (0.6 kg) increase (76.7-77.3 kg; P = .002). Among participants with obesity, 26% reported a weight gain of more than 2 kg compared with 14.8% of those of normal weight (P < .001). Additionally, 53.3% of participants with obesity maintained a weight within 2 kg compared with 72.5% of participants with normal weight (P < .001), suggesting that weight gain “disproportionately affected individuals with obesity compared with individuals of normal weight,” according to the researchers.
Notably, the researchers found that fewer baseline minutes of physical activity per day (beta = 0.107; P = .004), greater decreases in amount of physical activity per day (beta = 0.076; P = .026), depressive symptoms (beta = 0.098; P = .034) and more additional time preparing food (beta = 0.075; P = .031) were all associated with weight gain.
The authors said that the 0.6 kg weight gain is surprising considering the time frame of the study, and that if continued at the same rate, weight gain would “far exceed typical weight gain in a single year.”
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