Sports participation is just one of the aspects of life severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has forced governments around the world to take drastic action. Obviously, this has had dramatic effects on the possibility of sports participation.
A German study has found that children and adults with haemophilia showed a similar change in sports participation. All patients considered in the study played sports before the COVID-19 era, but after the restrictions were imposed there was a 56% reduction in adults and 54% reduction in children.
Team sports and gym activities were no longer possible due to the imposed social restrictions. This has led to a shift in participation from organised sports (e.g., tennis) to individual sports (e.g., running) and from high-risk sports (e.g., football) to low-risk sports (e.g., walking) for both people with haemophilia and the healthy population.
The overall reduction in sports participation was significant (from 81% to 74%), but was more pronounced in haemophilic adults (from 100% to 56%).
The results of this study suggest that recommendations and actions to maintain physical fitness and positive health outcomes during the pandemic should be followed not only by the healthy population, but also by people with haemophilia. It is important that physicians and other healthcare providers continue to encourage their patients to remain physically active as long as restrictions are present.
Reference:
- Olav Versloot et al., Sports participation of patients with haemophilia in the COVID-19 era: The Dutch experience, Haemophilia. 2020;00:1–3. DOI: 10.1111/hae.14189
