Trends in physical activity among South Korean adults before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, 2009-2024: A nationwide representative study.

OBJECTIVES

Comprehensive evidence on the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevalence of physical activity in large-scale datasets was limited. We aimed to investigate national trends in sufficient physical activity over 16 years, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and variation across population subgroup differences.

DESIGN

This population-based cross-sectional study used data from the Korea Community Health Survey, a nationally representative survey in South Korea conducted annually from 2009 to 2024.

METHODS

Based on World Health Organization guidelines, sufficient physical activity was defined as engaging in ≥600 mean metabolic equivalent task-min/week. National trends in prevalence analyzed across pre-(2009-2019), intra-(2020-2022), and post-pandemic (2023-2024) periods by various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

RESULTS

Among 3,203,485 Korean adults aged ≥19 years (46.4% [1,484,667/3,203,485] male), the prevalence of sufficient physical activity gradually increased before the pandemic, declined significantly in 2020 (30.68% [95% confidence intervals, 30.40-30.96]), and partially recovered by 2022 (35.96% [35.68-36.25]). Annual mean metabolic equivalent task-min/week followed a similar pattern, decreasing in 2020 and rising in 2022. In the subgroup analysis, most groups recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the prevalence. However, older adults (≥65 years), blue-collar workers, and individuals with low income still showed lower levels of physical activity compared to pre-pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS

Although physical activity significantly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults, blue-collar workers, and low-income individuals have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels in the post-pandemic period. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to support physical activity recovery.