RT Journal Article
T1 Excess Weight in Relation to Lifestyle Habits in Spanish First-Year University Students: Differences between Pre- and Post-COVID-19 -A Serial Cross-Sectional Study Based on uniHcos Project
A1 Hernández Segura, Natalia
A1 Narciso Rufo, Alicia
A1 Molina de la Torre, Antonio José
AB The objective of this research was to study the relationship between the body weight and diet, physical activity, and other habits among freshmen students by sex, and to determine whether these habits have changed during the post-era of the COVID-19 pandemic. A serial cross-sectional study with data from 11 Spanish universities was carried out. In total, 10,096 first-year university students (73.2% female, mean age = 19.0 ± 1.5 years) completed an online self-administered questionnaire between 2012 and 2022. For some analyses, questionnaires were categorized by the year in which the survey was filled out as Before COVID-19, Lockdown, and New Normal. In total, 72.9% of participants were within the normal weight range, and 17.7% of men and 11.8% of women were overweight (p < 0.001). The students who did not meet the WHO criteria of physical activity, spent more than 7 h per day sitting, and skipped breakfast had a higher prevalence of obesity (p < 0.05). According to the period of study, the prevalence of overweight/obesity Before COVID-19 was 16.1% (95% CI: 15.4–16.9%), while in Lockdown the prevalence was significantly higher (20.2, 95% CI: 17.1–23.8) and in New Normal it was 18.9% (CI: 15.7–22.5). Moreover, the study suggests that during the Lockdown period, there was a reduction in the practice of physical activity and an increase in the prevalence of a healthy diet. For all these, it is necessary to propose public health interventions that improve the lifestyles of university students.
PB MDPI
SN 2227-9032 (electrónico)
YR 2023
FD 2023-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22480
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22480
LA eng
NO Hernández-Segura, N., Botella-Juan, L., Amezcua-Prieto, C., Morales-Suárez-Varela, M., Mateos-Campos, R., Fernández-Villa, T., Ortiz-Moncada, R., Almaraz, A., Narciso-Rufo, A., Ayán-Pérez, C., & Molina, A. J. (2023). Excess Weight in Relation to Lifestyle Habits in Spanish First-Year University Students: Differences between Pre- and Post-COVID-19—A Serial Cross-Sectional Study Based on uniHcos Project. In Healthcare (Vol. 11, Issue 11, p. 1547). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11111547
NO This research was funded by National Drug Plan from the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality of Spain: 2010|145, 2013|034, 2020|030; Instituto de Salud Carlos III: PI16/01947. Lorena Botella-Juan: predoctoral contract financed by the European Social Fund (EDU/842/2022) and the "Junta de Castilla y León -Consejería de Educación (Spain).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 14 jul 2026