Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perceived Physical and Mental Health and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors of People With Disabilities: A Quantitative Analysis of the International Community Survey.

Abstract

This study aims to determine the perceived impact of the coronavirus pandemic on physical and mental health and healthy lifestyle behaviors in community-dwelling persons with disabilities, as compared with those without disabilities. A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted with a web-based global survey. Over 3 mos, 3550 responses were collected from 65 countries. The study included 2689 responses without skipped questions as full data for analysis. Most respondents were women (82.82%), and approximately half (52.81%) were between the ages of 25 and 39 yrs, followed by those between the ages of 40 and 60 yrs (38.6%). Among the participants, 52% indicated physical activity levels decreased and 20% reported eating less fruit and vegetables than before. Furthermore, 45% noted that they slept less than before. Perceived physical and mental health and changes to eating habits during the pandemic showed a significant difference in people with and without disabilities. Furthermore, perceived effects on physical health had a significant effect on the reported degree of disability. This study indicates that the pandemic had a larger impact on perceived physical and mental health and changes in eating habits and tobacco use among people with disabilities than people without disabilities.