Depression risk of older people caused by social isolation during COVID-19 outbreak: A cluster analysis

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic required compulsory social isolations to control the transmission of infection, so people had to stay at home for months in most part of the world. Turkish government has imposed curfew for the people aged 65 and over, who are most affected by the devastating effects of COVID-19 disease. Curfew was imposed to protect the older people, but staying at home for months can cause negative psychological effects like depression. Here, we aimed to establish the depression tendency by using depression indicators such as insomnia, poor appetite, despair, weariness, anxiety/fear, dereliction, lack of concentration, anger and trashiness, in people aged 65 and over, who were exposed to curfew during COVID-19 outbreak. The participants (n: 119) of this study were the students of Tazelenme University, a third age university, of Antalya Campus. Cluster analyses recovered two clusters. Statistically signifi cant differences were found between the two clusters by mean comparison of values, according to age, years of education and household factors, while no statistically signifi cant differences were found in the distribution of the two clusters by gender. Participants of Cluster 2 (average age 64,40) appeared to be more affected than participants of Cluster 1 (average age 68,61) by the curfew during outbreak and were more tend to be depressive. The results indicated a relationship between curfew and depression.