The Effect of Anxiety of Catching the Novel Coronavirus on Nutritional Status and Diet Quality in Athletes in Different Sports Branches

Abstract

This study was guided to determine the relationship between the nutritional status and diet quality of the anxiety of catching Covid-19 in different sport branches. 92 athletes, including 31 football players, 32 rowers and 29 handball players, participated in the study. In order to determine the anxiety levels of the athletes Athlete’s Anxiety to Catch the Novel Coronavirus Scale was applied. In order to measure the nutritional status of the athletes, 24-hour food consumption records were taken on a trained day and evaluated. The Healthy Eating Index-2015 was used to evaluate the diet quality of the athletes. The score of the rowing group was found to be significantly higher than the Football and Handball groups. The score of the Handball group was also found to be significantly higher than the Football group. There is a significant relationship between the Covid-19 Anxiety Scale scores of the football players and the seafood and vegetable protein scores. (r: 0.451, p=0.011,p<0.05). A important results were found in the same direction between the Covid-19 Anxiety Scale score of the rowers and the amount of protein consumption (%), total vegetable consumption, dark green leafy vegetables and legumes consumption, and total protein food consumption score (r:0.524, r=0.002, p<0.01; r:0.407, p=0.021, p<0.05; r:0.523, p=0.002, p<0.01; r: 0.533, p=0.002, p<0.01, respectively). A important results were found in the opposite direction between the Covid-19 Anxiety Scale score and the consumed total fruit and whole grain consumption score (r: -0.374, p= 0.035 p<0.05, r:-0,442, p:0.016; p<0.05, respectively). More research is required to clarify the relation between athletes' anxiety levels, nutritional status, and quality of diet.