Shahaj, Orjola;
Jiskrova, Gabriela Ksinan;
Bobak, Martin;
Pikhart, Hynek;
Ksinan, Albert J;
(2023)
Psychological Distress Among Older Adults During the First Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe.
International Journal of Public Health
, 68
, Article 1604372. 10.3389/ijph.2023.1604372.
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Abstract
Objective: To investigate the individual and country-level characteristics associated with the presence and worsening of psychological distress during the first wave of the pandemic among the elderly in Europe. Methods: In June-August 2020, 52,310 non-institutionalized people aged 50+ in 27 SHARE participating countries reported whether feeling depressed, anxious, lonely, and having sleep problems. For this analysis, we combined these symptoms into a count variable reflecting psychological distress. Binary measures of the worsening of each symptom were used as secondary outcomes. Multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial and binary logistic regressions were used to assess the associations. Results: Female sex, low education, multimorbidity, fewer social contacts, and higher stringency of policy measures were associated with increased distress. The worsening of all 4 distress symptoms was associated with younger age, poor health, loss of work due to the pandemic, low social contact, and high national mortality rates from COVID-19. Conclusion: The pandemic exacerbated distress symptoms for socially disadvantaged older adults and those who were already struggling with mental health. The death toll of COVID-19 in a country played a role in symptom worsening.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Psychological Distress Among Older Adults During the First Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/ijph.2023.1604372 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2023.1604372 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2023 Shahaj, Ksinan Jiskrova, Bobák, Pikhart and Ksinan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, mental health, older adults, COVID-19, psychological distress, SHARE, MENTAL-HEALTH, GENERAL-POPULATION, ANXIETY, IMPACT, DEPRESSION, PREVALENCE, STRESS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10167352 |
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