A comparative Study of Nutrition and Sleep Disorders in Active and Inactive Children during the Corona Pandemic

Covid-19 disease with widespread prevalence in 2019 worldwide has been identified as the biggest health threat, according to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), especially for children. In addition, sleep disorders are one of the consequences of this emerging disease; the aim of this study was to investigate the nutrition and sleep disorders of active and inactive children during the corona pandemic.

Random multistage cluster sampling was used in four geographical regions of Iran (north, south, west and east) in this research. This study was conducted in 2021 which the questionnaires were gathered from the cities and the sample size (194 people) was determined based on G-Power 3.1 software with 95% confidence and 80% statistical power (evaluation through virtual networks and web questionnaire). The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) Questionnaire, the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used. Mann-Whitney U and T-Student tests were used to compare the two groups of active and inactive children. The significance level was considered at p≤0.05.

The results showed that in the Covid-19 pandemic, the group of active children had a better level of physical activity (energy consumption) and status compared to the inactive children (p≤0.001). Also, it was shown that girls had more nutrition disorders than boys (p≤0.05), but there was no significant difference between sleep disorders between boys and girls, and there was no significant difference between nutrition disorders in active and inactive children.

In summary, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no difference in eating and sleeping disorders in active and inactive children, while gender is associated with nutrition disorders in children during Corona disease and was higher in girls than boys. It is suggested that parents pay more attention to physical activity and nutrition disorders in girls during home quarantine