?:abstract
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BACKGROUND: There is concern that the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively affect health behaviors in youth, especially youth diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper was to examine changes in physical activity, screen-time, and sleep in adolescents with ASD due to the COVID-19 pandemic METHODS: Nine adolescents with ASD completed surveys measuring physical activity, screen-time, and sleep duration prior to and during the pandemic RESULTS: A significant decrease in days of physical activity (4 17 vs 2 27;p = 0 0006), and a significant increase in hours of both weekday (3 69 vs 6 25;p = 0 007) and weekend screen-time (5 94 vs 7 39;p = 0 004) was observed during the pandemic No changes regarding sleep duration was observed CONCLUSIONS: Although preliminary, results suggest that physical activity and screen-time may be negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in youth with ASD The development of interventions to promote health behaviors in ASD populations during long periods of less-structured time (quarantine) should be considered
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