Rousham, O. orcid.org/0009-0003-3464-6096, Quirk, H. orcid.org/0000-0003-2716-4681, Goyder, E. orcid.org/0000-0003-3691-1888 et al. (1 more author) (2024) The long-term effect of the coronavirus pandemic on parkrun participation: an interrupted time series analysis. BMC Public Health, 24 (1). 2931. ISSN 1471-2458
Abstract
Background
The growth of parkrun between 2004 and 2019 has been heralded as a success story for public health as a result of its physical activity and wellbeing benefits for participants. However, parkrun was not immune from the COVID-19 pandemic - with events in mainland England cancelled from March 2020 to July 2021. This study explores the lasting impact of the pandemic on parkrun participation to February 2023, and its implications across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Methods
The study combines aggregated parkrun weekly finisher data from 32,470 Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) in England from January 2015 to February 2023 with Office of National Statistics (ONS) data on population and deprivation. Interrupted time series analysis using segmented Poisson regression models was used to estimate the immediate change in parkrun participation and the change in the rate of growth following the pandemic. Models were fitted for each Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintile separately to assess whether this effect differed by socioeconomic deprivation.
Results
Visualisation and interrupted time series analysis showed a significant and long-term decrease in parkrun participation following the reopening of parkrun events. This was consistent across all IMD quintiles, indicating that the inequalities in parkrun participation according to IMD observed prior to the pandemic remained after the pandemic. Between March 2020 and February 2023, almost 13 million fewer parkrun finishes are estimated to have occurred relative to what would have occurred in the absence of the pandemic.
Conclusion
The reduction in parkrun participation during the pandemic and following the reopening of events is likely to have negatively impacted wellbeing in would-be participants. Going forwards, policymakers must make the difficult trade-off between the long-term health and social implications of restricting outdoor physical activity events against the benefits associated with a reduction in infectious disease transmission.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Parkrun; Physical activity; Socioeconomic deprivation; Ecological study; Interrupted time series |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Oct 2024 16:06 |
Last Modified: | 28 Oct 2024 16:06 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12889-024-20420-0 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:218931 |