@article {Byrne295, author = {Natalie Wood Byrne and Daniel J. Parente and Nicole T. Yedlinsky}, title = {Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Exercise Habits Among US Primary Care Patients}, volume = {35}, number = {2}, pages = {295--309}, year = {2022}, doi = {10.3122/jabfm.2022.02.210313}, publisher = {The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine}, abstract = {Background: To explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected exercise habits, we hypothesized that participants{\textquoteright} physical activity would have increased by at least 30 min/wk after the onset of the pandemic.Methods: We distributed an anonymous survey to ambulatory patients at the Family Medicine Clinic, University of Kansas Medical Center to analyze changes in exercise habits and weight.Results: Of the 500 adult patients surveyed, 382 were included. Results were stratified by demographics, including employment status before and during COVID-19. The median change in weekly exercise duration was 0.0 minutes, but the mean change was {\textendash}25.7 minutes; total exercise duration decreased after the pandemic{\textquoteright}s onset (paired Wilcox signed rank test P \< .001). More individuals reported participation in virtual group classes (6.3\% before the pandemic vs 13.1\% during the pandemic; McNemar{\textquoteright}s P \< .001). Individuals with home exercise equipment before the pandemic were more likely to acquire more than were those who had none before (Chi square test P \< .005). Overall, there is a significant trend in the direction of weight gain (Wilcox signed rank test P \< .001).Conclusions: Most participants decreased physical activity during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, expanding our understanding of how exercise habits change during stressful life events.}, issn = {1557-2625}, URL = {https://www.jabfm.org/content/35/2/295}, eprint = {https://www.jabfm.org/content/35/2/295.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine} }