Physical activity levels and related energy expenditure during COVID-19 quarantine among the sicilian active population: A cross-sectional online survey study

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Italian government has adopted containment measures to control the virus's spread, including limitations to the practice of physical activity (PA). The aim of this study was to estimate the levels of PA, expressed as energy expenditure (MET-minute/week), among the physically active Sicilian population before and during the last seven days of the COVID-19 quarantine. Furthermore, the relation between this parameter and specific demographic and anthropometric variables was analyzed. Methods: 802 Sicilian physically active participants (mean age: 32.27 ± 12.81 years; BMI: 23.44 ± 3.33 kg/m2) were included in the study and grouped based on gender, age and BMI. An adapted version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short form (IPAQ-SF) was administered to the participants through an online survey. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test were used for statistical analyses. Results: As expected, we observed a significant decrease of the total weekly energy expenditure during the COVID-19 quarantine (p < 0.001). A significant variation in the MET-min/wk in the before quarantine condition (p = 0.046) and in the difference between before and during quarantine (p = 0.009) was found for males and females. The male group decreased the PA level more than the female one. Moreover, a significant difference in the MET-min/wk was found among groups distributions of BMI (p < 0.001, during quarantine) and of age (p < 0.001, both before and during quarantine). In particular, the highest and the lowest levels of PA were reported by the young and the elderly, respectively, both before and during quarantine. Finally, the overweight group showed the lowest level of PA during quarantine. Conclusion: Based on our outcomes, we can determine that the current quarantine has negatively affected the practice of PA, with greater impacts among males and overweight subjects. In regards to different age groups, the young, young adults and adults were more affected than senior adults and the elderly

Il ruolo della donna tra lavoro familiare ed extrafamiliare: il caso di una provincia siciliana

Il presente lavoro, basato sui dati di un'indagine campionaria sulla condizione femminile, si propone di approfondire, attraverso adeguate metodologie di analisi statistica multivariata, alcuni aspetti comportamentali. Sulle unit\ue0 di analisi, rappresentate dalle donne aventi pi\uf9 di 14 anni, che sono mogli/madri oppure vivono da sole, vengono studiate le aree di produzione per il mercato del lavoro, quelle di riproduzione familiare ed infine quelle relative alle attivit\ue0 socio culturali. Nell'ambito di tali aree ci si propone di esplorare alcuni atteggiamenti della donna in funzione delle caratteristiche del nucleo familiare di appartenenza. Fatta eccezione per alcune variabili socio-demografiche, la maggior parte di quelle derivanti dalle risposte alle domande dell'intervista, sono di tipo qualitativo ordinabile. I dati selezionati e opportunamente trasformati su scala metrica, sono stati sottoposti a procedura di analisi multidimensionale (analisi delle corrispondenze, dei fattori, ecc.)

Measuring tourism from demand side

This Paper proposes an analysis of tourism from the demand side, taking into account for both the total level of tourism demand produced by some European countries (domestic and outgoing) and its general tendency, and for the seasonal fluctuations which characterize many tourism-related aggregates. Tourist flows from the demand side at the European level are analyzed in the last decade, and a special focus on Italian tourism demand is provided, jointly with an analysis of its seasonal fluctuations. The analysis of general tendency of tourism demand and of the impacts of seasonality is a fundamental pre-requisite for the implementation of tourism policies