Published 7 July 2021 at 14.02
Health. The men who did well on the muster's physical test in their late teens have to a greater extent been able to avoid hospital care when they got covid during the pandemic, up to 50 years later. It is a study from the University of Gothenburg published in the journal BMJ Open.
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The study is based on the Swedish Conscription Register, which contains data on over 1.5 million Swedish men who enlisted between the years 1969 and 2005. Almost all of these men then underwent both a bicycle test and a strength test.
About 2,500 of the men in the conscription register later needed hospital care with covid, in the spring of 2020.
For the study, the researchers divided the men into three groups based on their results in the fitness and strength tests. Data were coordinated with the hospital register, the intensive care register and the death register. The results show a clear link between fitness and strength in adolescence and the risk of needing hospital care for covid infection, between 15 and 50 years after enlistment.
– At the population level, we can see that both good condition and good muscle strength in late adolescence are protective factors in covid infection. The risk of dying in the spring of 2020 was half as great if you had good condition during enlistment, compared with those with the worst condition. For those who were strong in the enlistment, we see a similar protective effect, says Agnes af Geijerstam, doctoral student at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, who is the main author of the study, in a mailing.
Because the oldest men in the study are still not over 70 years of age, however, covid deaths were uncommon in the study.
The Conscription Register also contains data on the height and weight of young men.
– Several previous studies have shown that obesity is a risk factor for severe covid-19, but we see that good condition and strength is a protective factor for everyone , even for men with obesity or overweight, says Professor Lauren Lissner, senior co-author of the study.
However, the length of men in the study could be linked to the risk of severe covidinfection.
– The longer the men were, the greater the risk that they needed advanced care when they received covid, but the increase in risk per centimeter is very small. Length is also a factor we can not influence, while we can improve our fitness and strength, says Agnes af Geijerstam.
Strengthens the immune system
There are already many studies which demonstrated the protective effect of good physical condition in a variety of medical conditions, including infections. It has been established that the immune system is strengthened and the tendency to inflammation is reduced by physical activity. Good fitness in adolescence is also believed to be associated with better living habits and physical activity for the rest of life.
– It is interesting to see that the fitness men had so many years ago can be linked to reduced risk of serious covid. Today, young people are becoming increasingly sedentary, and there is a risk of creating major problems in the long term, including a reduced resilience to future viral pandemics. Children and young people must be given a good opportunity to move around, says Agnes af Geijerstam.