Lifestyle Behaviors of Bronx Middle-School Students Enrolled in an Afterschool Program: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Shutdown

Background: A minority of American youth meet CDC lifestyle behavior recommendations. Children in the Bronx face barriers to healthy behaviors amplified by COVID-19. This research evaluated baseline behavior among distinct cohorts attending afterschool programming before and after the COVID-19 shutdown. Methods: Three Bronx public schools collected demographic and behavior data at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. This was compared to baseline data from students during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years at 1 school. Results: During the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, 76 students completed lifestyle behaviors questionnaires. During the 2021-2022 school year 89 students completed questionnaires. Participants surveyed after the COVID-19 shutdown drank more sweetened beverages (Median (IQR) = 3 (2-5) cups/day vs 2 (1-4) cups/day, P =.029) than those surveyed before the pandemic. Changes to the distribution of sleep (8 (7.5-9) hours/day vs 8 (6-9) hours/day, P =.005) and fast food consumption (1 (0 to 2-3) times/week vs 1 (1 to 2-3) times/week), P =.004) without changes in medians were also observed. PA hours completed weekly trended toward significant decline (4 (2-5) hours/week vs 3 (2-5) hours/week, P =.09). Conclusions: Changes in behaviors including sleep, physical activity, and sweetened beverage and fast food consumption observed after the COVID-19 shutdown highlight the importance of robust programming to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors in youth.