Physical activity, sedentary behaviour and screen time among youths with Down syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Physical activity among youths with Down syndrome dropped during COVID-19 lockdowns and had not recovered afterward—re-initiate structured movement programs now.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tracked movement in youths with Down syndrome before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdowns. They used hip-worn activity monitors to count steps and sitting time. Parents also logged daily screen use.
No one got an intervention. The study simply watched what happened when gyms, schools, and therapy centers closed.
What they found
Physical activity fell sharply when lockdowns started and stayed low even after rules eased. Screen time rose and did not drop back down.
In short, the kids moved less and sat more, and the habit stuck.
How this fits with other research
Meier et al. (2012) and Diaz (2020) already showed youth with Down syndrome are the least active disability group. Moya et al. (2022) reveals the pandemic made a bad picture worse.
Marcone et al. (2023) looks like a contradiction at first. They studied Italian families of kids with ID or ASD and also saw service loss and stress. The match-up shows the lockdown hit different diagnoses in the same way—less therapy, more sitting.
Liu et al. (2026) sums up the roadblocks: overprotective parents, few community programs, and no policy push. The new data prove these barriers bite harder when outside options vanish.
Why it matters
You may see clients who still move less and scroll more. Build five-minute movement breaks into every session—jump, dance, or walk the hallway. Set a timer so the break is non-negotiable. Tell parents to do the same at home and log steps with a cheap pedometer. Small, scheduled bouts can restart the habit the pandemic stopped.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19-related restrictions hampered habitual physical activity (PA), particularly affecting the more vulnerable, such as people with Down syndrome (DS). The study aimed to investigate changes in PA, sedentary behaviour (SB) and screen time (ST) of youths with DS, before, during and after the restrictions, also in relation to parental PA levels. METHODS: A cross-sectional design with a retrospective assessment of variables for the before and during restrictions periods was adopted. Parents of youths with DS completed an online questionnaire. Sociodemographic aspects, weekly PA levels and youths' daily SB and ST were investigated, referring to three time-points: before the pandemic, during the restrictions and the restrictions-easing phase. RESULTS: A total of 57 parents voluntarily participated in the study, proxy-reporting on their child (male = 41, female = 16, age = 21.4 ± 7.7 years). A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance showed negative effects of restrictions (P < 0.05) on PA levels, SB and ST, independently from sociodemographic characteristics. In the restrictions-easing phase, PA levels did not return to before the pandemic values (P < 0.05). A positive correlation between parents and their child's PA was detected before the pandemic (r = 0.38; P < 0.01), no longer reported in the restrictions-easing phase. CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed the negative impact of restrictions on youths with DS lifestyle. Moreover, the importance of addressing the needs of the disabled community including the whole family is highlighted.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2022 · doi:10.1111/jir.12933