Dalecka, Andrea;
Pikhart, Hynek;
Bartoskova, Anna;
Capkova, Nadezda;
Bobak, Martin;
(2022)
Determinants of depressive symptoms increase in older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Czech cohort study using repeated assessments.
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (JECH)
, 77
(2)
pp. 101-107.
10.1136/jech-2022-219412.
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Abstract
Background Numerous studies reported higher levels of mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic but only a minority used repeated measurements. We investigated change in depressive symptoms in the Czech ageing cohort and the impact of pre-existing and COVID-19-related stressors. Methods We used data on 2853 participants (mean age 73.4 years) from the Czech part of the prospective Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe cohort that participated in postal questionnaire surveys before (September 2017-June 2018) and during the pandemic (October 2020-April 2021). Participants reported their depressive symptoms using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale including 10 (CESD-10) tool. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to create representative components of the pandemic-related stressors. The impact of the stressors on change in depressive symptoms was tested using multivariable linear regression, after adjustment for age and potential confounders. Results Three patterns of the pandemic-related stressors ( financial stressors', social and perception stressors' and death and hospitalisation stressors') were extracted from the PCA. The mean CESD-10 score increased from 4.90 to 5.37 (p<0.001). In fully adjusted models, significantly larger increases in depression score were reported by older people (β=0.052; p=0.006), those with poor self-rated health (β=0.170; p<0.001), those who experienced death or hospitalisation of a close person (β=0.064; p<0.001), social deprivation (β=0.057; p<0.001), delays in healthcare (β=0.048; p=0.005) and those who suffered from COVID-19 (β=0.045; p=0.008). Conclusion This study confirms an increase in depressive symptoms in older persons during the pandemic and identified several pandemic-related risk factors suggesting that public health policies should address this vulnerable group by adopting the preventing strategies.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Determinants of depressive symptoms increase in older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Czech cohort study using repeated assessments |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/jech-2022-219412 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2022-219412 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, COVID-19, depression, aging, SOCIAL-ISOLATION, MENTAL-HEALTH, ADULTS, ANXIETY |
| 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-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10166212 |
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