key: cord-0943871-7xrienwf
authors: Bakaloudi, Dimitra Rafailia; Chourdakis, Michail
title: Reply-Letter to the editor: “Impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on body weight: A combined systematic review and a meta-analysis”
date: 2022-04-29
journal: Clin Nutr
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2022.04.030
sha: 30cd059d1d9fd0d66b2ec136368e98e15d05b0d1
doc_id: 943871
cord_uid: 7xrienwf

nan

Reply-Letter to the editor: "Impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on body weight: A combined systematic review and a meta-analysis" Dimitra Rafailia Bakaloudi 1 (1) and wish to thank Dr. Ordonio and team for their interest in our study (2) exploring the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on body weight and BMI of adolescent and adult population.

The major/first concern Ordonio et al stated that "…in fact, the period of exposure to social isolation was responsible for drastic changes in anthropometric variables including the increase in body weight and BMI around the world. Some factors may justify this scenario: the significant decrease in physical activity levels, outdoor exercises, closing of gyms, sports gym, among others."; we agree that the period of lockdown was possibly associated with reduced physical activity due to the closure of sport centers and gyms (3), but at the same time one needs to acknowledge that other activities, either outdoors, such as walks with pets, or indoors, e.g., home-based trainings, were not banned, which is a combination of events that does not allow for safe conclusions. Moreover, another systematic review and meta-analysis from our group, found that snacking habit and alcohol consumption were increased during the COVID-19 lockdown (4), which might have been an additional factor leading to body weight and BMI changes. Furthermore, in regard to the third point that was brought up by Ordonio et al, "that data was obtained via phone interview or online questionnaires", we fully agree that this comes with downsides, and that is already addressed as a limitation in our paper (2) . Better obtained data about body weight changes during the lockdown using body composition analyses would have been preferred, but the overall limited data during the period that our survey was conducted, did not allow us to perform such an analysis.

Finally, in regard to the final comment by Ordanio et al, we would like to kindly draw their attention to the statement in our paper that obesity constitutes a risk factor not only for comorbidities, such as type-2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, obstructive sleep-apnea and even cancer, but also for COVID-19 infection.

Thank you for your giving us the opportunity to respond.

Comment: Impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on body weight: A combined systematic review and a meta-analysis

Impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on body weight: A combined systematic review and a metaanalysis

What is lockdown and what does it mean for you?

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on snacking habits, fast-food and alcohol consumption: A systematic review of the evidence