Healthy nutrition attitude, sleep quality and musculoskeletal disorders in university students during Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study aims to college students' healthy nutrition attitude, sleep status, and musculoskeletal disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 165 university students participated in this research. The students filled out the Attitude Scale for Healthy Nutrition, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire. The attitude toward healthy eating of 34 (20.6%) students was found to be moderate, 100 (60.6%) high, and 31 (18.8%) very high. There was no meaningful difference between groups according to having COVID-19 disease (p>0.05). Among the participants, 43 (26.06%) students were found to be good and 122 (73.94%) to be poor in terms of sleep quality. The global PSQI and sleep duration subgroup scores of those who had COVID-19 were statistically higher (p=0.010 and 0.043, respectively). The five regions with the most musculoskeletal symptoms were the upper back (78.18%), lower back (70.91%), neck (69.09%), right shoulder (55.76%) and left shoulder (49.09%). Significant differences were observed in the scores of the right wrist (p=0.009), left wrist (p=0.007), right lower leg (p=0.024), left lower leg (p=0.026), right foot (p=0.001), and left foot (p=0.009). The COVID-19 pandemic partially affected university students in terms of healthy eating attitudes and, to a greater extent, in terms of sleep and musculoskeletal disorders.