ArticleJournal of epidemiology2026
Longitudinal Study of Changes in Daily and Hourly Steps During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan.
Article in Journal of epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Non-linear association between mHealth-measured daily steps and subsequent healthcare expenditures among long-term app users in Osaka, Japan.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Smartphone Step Data for Public Health: Insights From Surveillance in Japan and Future Perspectives.Journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on changes in physical activity, particularly diurnal patterns, remains unclear. We investigated temporal changes in daily steps before and after the emergency declaration in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsNationwide de-identified data from users of a physical activity-promoting smartphone application were collected. Daily and hourly steps were measured using smartphones from January 2019 to September 2020. Linear mixed models estimated changes in steps before, during, and after the April and May 2020 emergency declaration relative to 2019, involving 3,480 users (daily steps) and 3,402 users (hourly steps).
resultsCompared to the 2019 baseline, daily steps decreased during the emergency declaration (April: -1,115; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1,233 to -998 steps/day) and only partly recovered thereafter (July: -496; 95% CI, -609 to -382 steps/day). This decline was greater among participants aged 18-39 years (P for interaction <0.05). By time of day, steps significantly decreased during weekday morning commutes and at night (eg, 21:00: -136; 95% CI, -153 to -119 steps/hour) and during weekend days and late evenings (eg, 12:00: -173; 95% CI, -196 to -151 steps/hour). After the declaration was lifted, step counts recovered but were still lower at night (eg, 21:00 on weekends: -120; 95% CI, -135 to -106 steps/hour).
conclusionDaily steps decreased after the emergency COVID-19 declaration in Japan. Even after the emergency period ended, there was a persistent population-level decline in daily steps, with a partial shift in the diurnal pattern. Efforts are needed not only to restore but also to further promote physical activity beyond pre-pandemic levels.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.