Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults living in long-term care centers in Thailand, and risk factors for post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety

Abstract

Background : There is a lack of data concerning impact of COVID-19 among older adults (OA) living at long-term care (LTC) centers. This study investigated how COVID-19 has affected this population. The prevalence of and risk factors for post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety were investigated. Methods : A semi-structured interview to determine the effect of COVID-19 was conducted to 200 OA at two government LTC centers. The 17-item Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale were used to evaluate post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety, respectively. Results : Most OA reported moderate or severe impact of COVID-19. The most impacted area was financial due to decreased support from outside the center. Seventy percent of OA reported no or mild psychological stress from COVID-19; however, 5.5% had post-traumatic stress, 7.0% had depression, and 12.0% had anxiety. Higher psychological stress from COVID-19 and having respiratory tract infection symptoms were independently associated with post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. Receiving COVID-19 news via social media was independently associated with post-traumatic stress and depression. Having psychiatric comorbidity was independently associated with depression. Conclusions : OA living in LTC centers reported moderate or severe impact from COVID-19, especially financial, but relatively low psychological stress. Psychological stress from COVID-19, having respiratory tract infection symptoms, and receiving COVID-19 news via social media were risk factors for psychological disorders. Limitations : The data reflected the post-outbreak period. There is limitation in the generalizability of the results for other countries with different health care systems.

A comparative study on mental health and adaptability between older and younger adults during the COVID-19 circuit breaker in Singapore

“…While the present findings were in line with recent studies [ 27 – 30 ], which showed that the well-being of older adults persisted during the pandemic, this study sampled only cognitively healthy community-dwelling older adults and, therefore findings may not be generalizable to other groups of such as those living in care facilities or those facing existing mental health issues such as the very frail or suffering from cognitive or sensory impairments [ 42 – 45 ]. There was also the possibility that age advantages were maintained because conditions imposed by partial lockdown measures may not have created the kind of high arousal state specified by the SAVI model that would impact the mental health of older adults.…”

COVID‐19 vicarious traumatization links functional connectome to general distress

“…For example, functional connectivity within DMN, and between DMN and SN/FPN, are altered in depression ( Mulders et al, 2015 ); anxiety is characterized by hypo-connectivity of multiple brain networks, notably the FPN, DMN, SN and motor network ( Xu et al, 2019 ); stress can be linked to the balance between FPN and SN ( Hermans et al, 2014 ; Hermans et al, 2011 ). These findings suggest common neuropsychological correlates of depression, anxiety and stress susceptibility, all of which are prevalent and comorbid post-trauma ( Chew et al, 2020 ; Dar et al, 2021 ; Dubey et al, 2020 ; Nochaiwong et al, 2021 ; Srifuengfung et al, 2021 ). This raises the possibility that general distress is also a network-based pathophysiology, which may have important implications for brain-stimulation-based treatment ( Liu et al, 2021a ; Scult et al, 2019 ).…”

The prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This in turn exacerbated anxiety in the elderly; This caused the elderly population to distance themselves from other people in the community and experience severe post-traumatic stress (10). In the same vein, Srifuengfung et al (7) in a study examined the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and PTSD in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress were 7%, 12%, and 5.5%, respectively.…”