The long-term impact of COVID-19 on the physical activity, motor fitness, and maximum heart rate values of female university students

Parameter	Mean	SD	Min.	Max.	As
	PA and anthropometric characteristics
Age (years)	21.23	1.57	19.0	28.0	2.373
PA (METs/min/week)	1648.29	560.20	570.0	2950.0	−0.193
Body height (cm)	167.93	6.03	155.0	183.0	0.376
Body mass (kg)	65.49	13.98	40.8	107.4	1.205
Total body water (kg)	33.27	4.21	26.1	48.6	0.790
Proteins (kg)	8.93	1.15	7.0	13.1	0.774
Minerals (kg)	3.28	0.48	2.4	5.1	0.930
BFM (kg)	20.02	9.65	4.2	48.4	1.350
FFM (kg)	45.48	5.81	35.5	66.8	0.755
SMM (kg)	24.94	3.45	19.0	37.5	0.779
BMI (kg/m²)	23.14	4.29	14.8	37.7	1.271
BFM% (%)	29.23	7.88	10.2	50.1	0.381
In body score	71.63	6.89	52.0	87.0	−0.892
Target weight (kg)	62.17	5.67	51.7	86.7	1.277
Weight control (kg)	−3.33	10.33	−34.0	18.5	−1.020
BFM control (kg)	−5.76	8.96	−34.0	9.5	−1.323
FFM control (kg)	2.43	2.47	0.0	10.5	0.863
BMR (Kcal)	1352.33	125.47	1137.0	1812.0	0.797
WHR	0.87	0.07	0.7	1.1	1.166
VFL	8.27	4.98	2.0	23.0	1.478
	Physiological characteristics
Distance (m)	2049.81	227.85	1664.0	2588.0	0.592
Power (W)	66.83	22.83	35.0	130.0	0.955
Energy expenditure (Kcal)	104.51	15.92	82.0	147.0	0.902
S/M (strokes/min)	25.73	3.93	20.0	42.0	1.687
Pace per 500 m (s)	174.10	23.09	115.0	216.0	−0.597
HR_avg (bpm)	152.42	19.13	97.0	193.0	−0.478
HR_max (bpm)	170.61	18.43	136.0	203.0	−0.274
	Intensity of effort [s]
Zone 1: < 90 (bpm)	45.31	115.19	0.0	714.0	3.767
Zone 2: 90 – 108 (bpm)	122.71	164.42	0.0	705.0	2.065
Zone 3: 108 – 124 (bpm)	205.65	180.05	0.0	660.0	0.963
Zone 4: 125 – 143 (bpm)	196.56	176.65	0.0	621.0	0.651
Zone 5: 144 – 162 (bpm)	134.31	186.22	0.0	617.0	1.294
Zone 6: > 162 (bmp)	15.48	30.63	0.0	197.0	4.135

Notes: PA – physical activity, BFM – body fat mass, FFM – fat free mass, SMM – skeletal muscle mass, BMI – Body Mass Index, BFM% – body fat mass percent, BMR – basal metabolic rate, WHR – waist–hip ratio, VFL – visceral fat level, S/M – strokes per minute, HR – heart rate, HR_avg – average heart rate, HR_max – maximum heart rate, As – coefficient of skewness (asymmetry of distribution).

Table 2

Descriptive statistics of the anthropometric and physiological characteristics of the study population

Characteristic	Group*						Difference
	G₁ (n = 40)		G₂ (n = 29)		G₃ (n = 13)		Difference
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	F	p	Cohen’s f
	PA and anthropometric characteristics
PA (METs/min/week)	2085.13^2.3	312.13	1439.66^1.3	293.33	769.62^1.2	152.51	115.26	<0.001	1.7082
Body height (cm)	167.44	5.15	167.43	5.96	170.54	8.09	2.11	ns	0.2311
Body mass (kg)	59.99³	5.56	63.16³	9.47	87.65^1.2	18.01	37.93	<0.001	0.9799
TBW (kg)	32.17³	3.47	32.97³	3.50	37.28^1.2	5.49	8.76	<0.001	0.4709
Proteins (kg)	8.65³	0.96	8.83³	0.94	9.98^1.2	1.51	7.97	<0.001	0.4492
Minerals (kg)	3.14³	0.34	3.25³	0.41	3.77^1.2	0.65	10.59	<0.001	0.5178
BFM (kg)	16.02³	3.50	18.10³	6.09	36.61^1.2	11.90	53.15	<0.001	1.16
FFM (kg)	43.97³	4.75	45.06³	4.84	51.05^1.2	7.64	8.83	<0.001	0.4728
SMM (kg)	24.07³	2.87	24.69³	2.83	28.18^1.2	4.55	8.35	<0.001	0.4598
BMI (kg/m²)	21.37³	1.92	22.48³	2.76	30.06^1.2	5.60	17.69	<0.001	0.6692
BFM (%)	26.56³	4.27	27.98³	6.66	40.23^1.2	9.89	24.07	<0.001	0.7806
In body score	74.53³	4.55	72.66³	3.89	60.46^1.2	7.24	42.16	<0.001	1.0331
Target weight (kg)	61.07³	4.21	61.24³	4.78	67.62^1.2	8.25	8.47	<0.001	0.4631
Weight control (kg)	1.09³	4.56	−1.92³	6.79	−20.03^1.2	13.15	42.21	<0.001	1.0337
BFM control (kg)	−2.04³	3.36	−4.04³	5.71	−21.05^1.2	11.08	51.48	<0.001	1.1416
FFM control (kg)	3.13³	2.62	2.11	1.93	1.02¹	2.48	4.26	0.018	0.3284
BMR (Kcal)	1319.80³	102.59	1343.35³	104.61	1472.46^1.2	164.82	8.80	<0.001	0.472
WHR	0.85³	0.04	0.85³	0.05	0.97^1.2	0.10	26.76	<0.001	0.8231
VFL	6.13³	1.68	7.24³	3.09	17.15^1.2	5.73	63.53	<0.001	1.2682
	Physiological characteristics
Distance (m)	2226.95^2.3	184.33	1928.69^1.3	73.40	1774.92^1.2	74.41	68.19	<0.001	1.3139
Power (W)	84.10^2.3	20.39	54.10¹	6.27	42.08¹	5.25	55.06	<0.001	1.1806
Energy expenditure (Kcal)	116.73^2.3	13.90	95.38¹	4.39	87.31¹	4.27	58.25	<0.001	1.2172
S/M (strokes/min)	26.85^2.3	4.63	24.93¹	2.56	24.08¹	3.25	3.59	0.032	0.3015
Pace per 500 m (s)	156.93^2.3	18.59	186.52¹	7.15	199.23¹	17.82	51.66	<0.001	1.1436
HR_avg (bpm)	157.85³	19.45	150.79	13.86	139.31¹	22.38	5.27	0.007	0.3653
HR_max (bpm)	175.35³	17.35	168.24	17.72	160.77¹	19.58	3.75	0.028	0.3081
	Intensity of effort [s]
Zone 1: < 90 (bpm)	41.58	96.17	11.52³	16.39	132.15²	218.89	5.52	0.006	0.3738
Zone 2: 90 – 108 (bpm)	85.20	108.83	162.28	216.06	149.85	160.61	2.11	ns	0.2311
Zone 3: 108 – 124 (bpm)	183.25	157.48	231.76	209.95	216.31	178.68	0.63	ns	0.1263
Zone 4: 125 – 143 (bpm)	218.23	178.93	185.72	182.59	154.08	158.03	0.73	ns	0.1359
Zone 5: 144 – 162 (bpm)	169.05	202.22	118.76	181.86	62.08	117.33	1.18	ns	0.1728
Zone 6: > 162 (bmp)	22.70	40.73	9.97	13.49	5.54	12.65	2.34	ns	0.2434

Notes:* G₁ – women without a history of COVID-19; G₂ – women with a history of COVID-19 who had not been hospitalized; G₃ – women who had been hospitalized due to COVID-19, ns – not significant. Different superscript numbers represent significant differences between groups. Refer to Table 1 for a description of the remaining abbreviations.

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhk-2026-0007 | Journal eISSN: 2080-2234 | Journal ISSN: 2080-2234

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Language: English

Page range: 22 - 33

Submitted on: Aug 17, 2025

Accepted on: Dec 29, 2025

Published on: Mar 23, 2026

Published by: University of Physical Education in Warsaw

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Exercise,

Motor skills,

Physiological parameters,

Young adult,

Pandemic

Related subjects:

Medicine,

Basic medical science,

Basic medical science, other,

Sports and recreation,

Physical education,

Sports and recreation, other

© 2026 Robert Podstawski, Krzysztof Borysławski, Jadwiga Snarska, Attila Szabo, Piotr Jurewicz, Ferenc Ihasz, published by University of Physical Education in Warsaw
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 18 (2026): Issue 1 (January 2026)