Physical activity level and body mass index profile of the working-age population in palembang city

Physical activity levels have decreased during the Covid-19 pandemic because of the lockdown period and related social distancing measures. Although Indonesian government has gradually allowed people to do outdoor activities, there are still large-scale restrictions on doing activities in public places. Palembang is one of biggest cities in Indonesia, in which students and workers have been learning and working from home during the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to analyse the physical activity levels and body mass index (BMI) profiles of the working-age population in Palembang, Indonesia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 735 participants (M: 416;F: 319) with a minimum age of 15 (26.14±9.46) participated in this study. The method of this study was a survey using an online Short-Form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) to assess physical activity and energy expenditure levels based on Metabolic Equivalents of Task (MET). The data was collected for 4 weeks in February 2021 by measuring the height and weight and by observing the physical activity behaviour of the participants through the survey. The results of the BMI calculation showed that almost half of the participants were a combination of underweight, overweight, and obese, while participants in the normal category included only slightly more than half. The results of the physical activity level showed that more than half of the participants were in the low and medium category, while participants in the high category included slightly fewer than 40%. Thus, the working-age population in Palembang City needs to increase their physical activity and maintain their nutritional intake to improve their BMI levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021, Editura Universitatii din Pitesti. All rights reserved.