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Associations Between Fear of COVID-19, Affective Symptoms and Risk Perception Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults During a COVID-19 Lockdown.

ABSTRACT: Fear is a common and potentially distressful psychological response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The factors associated with such fear remains relatively unstudied among older adults. We investigated if fear of COVID-19 could be associated with a combination of psychological factors such as anxiety and depressive symptoms, and risk perception of COVID-19, and demographic factors in a community sample of older adults. Older adults (N = 413, M _age = 69.09 years, SD = 5.45) completed measures of fear of COVID-19, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and risk perception of COVID-19, during a COVID-19 lockdown. These variables, together with demographics, were fitted to a structural equation model. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were highly correlated with each other and were combined into the higher order latent variable of affective symptoms for analyses. The final model revealed that fear of COVID-19 was positively associated with psychological factors of affective symptoms and risk perception. Older age was associated with greater fear of COVID-19. Our findings showed that fear of COVID-19 can be a projection of pre-existing affective symptoms and inflated risk perceptions and highlighted the need to address the incorrect risk perceptions of COVID-19 and socio-affective issues among older adults in the community.

SUBMITTER: Han MFY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8021922 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic led to the implementation of physical-social distancing measures-including self-isolation, home confinement, and quarantine around the world, with psychological consequences such as depression. Older adults are especially likely to develop depressive symptomatology. This study aims to investigate the association between physical activity intensities and sedentary behavior with depression levels among previously active older adults during the COVID-19 lockdown.MethodsA total of 1,123 physically active older Brazilian adults (67.68 ± 5.91 years, 91.00% female) were interviewed by telephone in regard to sociodemographic, general health status, depression (GDS-15), and physical activity (IPAQ-SV) after being home-confined for 11.59 ± 2.42 weeks. Participants were also asked to self-report changes in their physical activity levels and time spent sitting. Descriptive statistics (mean, frequencies), between-groups comparisons (t-tests and chi-square), and hierarchical regression analysis were used.ResultsAbout 83.80% of older adults self-reported a decrease in daily physical activity levels and 73.90% increased sitting time. Overall, depressive symptoms were observed in 30.40, and 20.80% met physical activity recommendations. Daily moderate (β = -0.174; 95% CI = -0.026; -0.012) and moderate-to-vigorous (β = -0.183; 95% CI = -0.023; 0.011) physical activity intensities were negatively associated with depression score explaining 2.6 and 2.9% of depression variability, respectively, after adjusting for age, gender, education level, body mass index, and polypharmacy. Daily walking and sitting time were not associated with the depression score (p > 0.05).ConclusionThe results provide empiric suggestion supporting moderate to vigorous physical activity as a way to reduce depressive levels among older adults during COVID-19 confinement. Supervised home-based exercise programs, specifically designed for older adults, might be an important strategy to maintain and improve older adults' mental health.

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Associations Between Fear of COVID-19, Affective Symptoms and Risk Perception Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults During a COVID-19 Lockdown.

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