Nutritional Status among Scholars and Employees during Compulsory Confinement Due to COVID-19

Background: beyond genetics, nutritional status depends on rational dietary and regular practice of physical activity and exercises. Thus, we evaluated nutritional status of scholars and employees subjected to four-weeks confinement due to COVID-19. Material and Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study in a Middle Institute and University. We applied systematic casual sampling technique to screen 534 participants from whom anthropometric measures were taken followed by a questionnaire. Results: 41.5% (n=206) participants have weight outside the referred range before confinement. Body mass index (BMI) mean after deconfinement is 22.6 kg.m-2 (min. 13.5 and max. 39.7 kg.m-2). The majority are eutrophic (60.2%, n=322), but significant number (39.8%, n=212) was diagnosed with a sort of malnutrition, either underweight (13.8%, n=74), overweight (17.2%, n=92) or obesity (8.8%, n=47). Nutritional status of males and females show no significant difference (p.=0.301; CI: 95%, SE: 0.0893), although males tended to have relatively high weight abnormalities. As associated factors, we found relative increment of food intake, low frequency of physical activity and exercises, and lower family income. Conclusion: COVID-19 restrictions have led to significant sort of malnutrition events in participants due to irrational food intake and increased sedentary lifestyle.