Yi Wang1,2, Peipei Fu1,2, Jie Li1,2, Zhengyue Jing1,2, Qiong Wang1,2, Dan Zhao1,2, Chengchao Zhou1,2. 1. Centre for Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China. 2. NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, Shandong University, 44 Wen-hua-xi Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, China.
Abstract
AIM: To investigate changes in psychological distress in community-dwelling older adults before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the contribution of frailty transitions and multimorbidity in predicting the psychological distress. METHODS: Prospective repeated-measures cohort study on a sample of participants aged 60 and over. A total of 2, 785 respondents at the baseline (May 2019) were followed during the COVID-19 (August 2020). The changes in psychological distress before and during the COVID-19 were assessed using generalised estimation equations with adjusting for sex, age, education, economic status, marital status, tea drinking status, smoking status, alcohol drinking status, sedentary time, sleep quality and activities of daily living. RESULTS: The psychological distress of older people has significantly increased in August 2020 compared with May 2019. Both older adults who remained frail and transitioned into frail state reported more psychological distress during the COVID-19. Similarly, both pre-existing multimorbidity and emerging multimorbidity groups were associated with more psychological distress. The group of frailty progression who reported new emerging multimorbidity showed more increase in psychological distress in comparison with those who remained in the non-frail state who reported no multimorbidity. CONCLUSION: Psychological distress has increased among the community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, and sustained and progressive frail states as well as multimorbidity were all associated with a greater increase of psychological distress. These findings suggest that future public health measures should take into account the increased psychological distress among older people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the assessment of frailty and multimorbidity might help in warning of psychological distress.
AIM: To investigate changes in psychological distress in community-dwelling older adults before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the contribution of frailty transitions and multimorbidity in predicting the psychological distress. METHODS: Prospective repeated-measures cohort study on a sample of participants aged 60 and over. A total of 2, 785 respondents at the baseline (May 2019) were followed during the COVID-19 (August 2020). The changes in psychological distress before and during the COVID-19 were assessed using generalised estimation equations with adjusting for sex, age, education, economic status, marital status, tea drinking status, smoking status, alcohol drinking status, sedentary time, sleep quality and activities of daily living. RESULTS: The psychological distress of older people has significantly increased in August 2020 compared with May 2019. Both older adults who remained frail and transitioned into frail state reported more psychological distress during the COVID-19. Similarly, both pre-existing multimorbidity and emerging multimorbidity groups were associated with more psychological distress. The group of frailty progression who reported new emerging multimorbidity showed more increase in psychological distress in comparison with those who remained in the non-frail state who reported no multimorbidity. CONCLUSION: Psychological distress has increased among the community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, and sustained and progressive frail states as well as multimorbidity were all associated with a greater increase of psychological distress. These findings suggest that future public health measures should take into account the increased psychological distress among older people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the assessment of frailty and multimorbidity might help in warning of psychological distress.
Authors: Georgia Salanti; Natalie Peter; Thomy Tonia; Alexander Holloway; Ian R White; Leila Darwish; Nicola Low; Matthias Egger; Andreas D Haas; Seena Fazel; Ronald C Kessler; Helen Herrman; Christian Kieling; Dominique J F De Quervain; Simone N Vigod; Vikram Patel; Tianjing Li; Pim Cuijpers; Andrea Cipriani; Toshi A Furukawa; Stefan Leucht Journal: Ann Intern Med Date: 2022-10-18 Impact factor: 51.598
Authors: Gengze Liao; Bixia Huang; Priscilla Ming Lee; Shi Zhao; Chi Kuen Chan; Lai-Bun Tai; Chun Yuk Jason Tsang; Chi Chiu Leung; Mei-Po Kwan; Lap Ah Tse Journal: Int J Public Health Date: 2022-04-01 Impact factor: 5.100