Correlation Between Self-reported or Supervised Physical Activity in Noncommunicable Diseases and Comorbidities During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Objective: The aim of the study is to systematically identify the protective and ameliorative effects of physical activity among people with noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, chronic vascular disease, hypertension, and existing comorbidities during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: The trial is registered in the PROSPERO registry and used the PICO (population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes) strategy to perform the search strategy. Assessors analyzed related studies in the MEDLINE, PROQUEST, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Embase, Google Scholar, Physiotherapy Evidence, and Science Direct databases between December 2022 and January 2023. Researchers independently conducted a quality assessment of each study using a predeveloped quality assessment tool adapted from established tools for quantitative studies.

Results: Eighteen trials were included (chronic vascular disease-7, diabetes-4, hypertension-1, cancer-3, and chronic respiratory disease-3). The total number of individuals included in the systematic review was 780,003, and the total with or without COVID-19 was 188,435. Qualitative rating by the Newcastle-Ottawa Score for cross-sectional and cohort studies and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale revealed fair to good evidence for physical activity as a tool to reduce complications.

Conclusions: There is evidence that exercise can protect people with noncommunicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic.Registration: Registered with Prospero registry.