Psychological impact of sociodemographic factors and medical conditions in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico

Abstract

Introduction. Older adults are not only at a higher medical risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they may also be a group particularly vulnerable to mental health diminishing. Objective. To analyze the effect of some sociodemographic factors (sex and age) and medical conditions (diabetes and hypertension) on mental health and concerns about COVID-19 in a sample of older adults. Method. A non-probabilistic sample of 2,992 older adults (37.7% men and 62.3% women) was selected, with an average age of 70.45 years (SD = 7.31). Participants were given the Impact of Event Scale-6 (IES-6), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), a questionnaire of concerns about COVID-19, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Participants’ answers were captured via Google Forms. Results. The results showed that women had greater concerns about COVID-19 than men. The findings in general showed significant effects, with women showing higher scores in depressive symptoms, anxiety, and greater stress generated in addition by the impact of the event. Differences concerning event-related stress and depression were found in relation to subgroups by age. Discussion and conclusion. These finding could serve for the planning and development of strategies that provide attention to the mental health of this population group.

Distress, Depression, Anxiety, and Concerns and Behaviors Related to COVID-19 during the First Two Months of the Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study in Adult MEXICANS

“…When exploring differences between subgroups of sociodemographic variables, we found some commonalities with other studies, mainly higher distress in women, individuals aged 26 or more, individuals with children [ 13 , 54 , 62 , 63 ], and mostly in relation to having a medical condition of high risk for COVID-19, such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, respiratory diseases, autoimmune disease or immunosuppression, obesity, or dyslipidemia, which has also been found in old-aged Mexican individuals [ 23 ], and samples from other countries, likely because of increased risk perception, which tends to be in part a function of how personal the experience related to COVID-19 is to the individual [ 64 ]. Except for having children, which we hypothesize as only being significant regarding underaged children, all the demographics showed the expected effects as declared in our hypotheses within each wave; however, they did not contribute to the decline of distress in the follow-up, according to our data, and express themselves with rather small magnitudes (d < 0.50, or η 2 < 0.06).…”

“…This questionnaire was recently used in a study with older adults [ 23 ], proving significant associations with psychological distress and interaction with relevant sociodemographic characteristics, such as gender and group age. The questionnaire is not intended as an instrument to be used as a standard measure but rather was designed specifically to evaluate these concerns and behaviors in the context of our study, considering limitations of time in the context of the quick development of the pandemic.…”

“…Another study found no differences in worry and perceived risk relative to educational attainment, occupational demandingness, or isolation [ 22 ]. A study from our own research group [ 23 ] conducted on older adults found that depressive symptoms were more frequent among women 80 years or older compared to men of the same age or both genders aged 60 to 79.…”

Factores Asociados a Respuestas Psicológicas ante COVID-19 en una Muestra Mexicana

“…Sobre los resultados obtenidos para la variable ansiedad es importante señalar que los mexicanos encuestados reportaron niveles más bajos comparados con los referidos por los habitantes de China (Jin et al 2020;Li, Yang, Dou et al, 2020;Liu, Ren et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020). Los presentes hallazgos son congruentes con los obtenidos por otros investigadores mexicanos (Galindo-Vázquez et al, 2020;González-González et al, 2020;Guzmán-González et al, 2020) y resultan más parecidos a los referidos por Colombia, Estados Unidos y Brasil, probablemente, debido a las diferencias entre las medidas adoptadas por las autoridades sanitarias y gubernamentales de los distintos países, así como la cronología y epidemiología del brote en cada nación (Maekelae et al, 2020).…”

“…Los puntajes ≥10 se consideran de importancia clínica. Cabe señalar que se trata de una escala validada y ampliamente utilizada en México para evaluar niveles de ansiedad, tanto previo a la pandemia (Castro-Silva et al, 2016) como durante ésta (González-González et al, 2020;Mier-Bolio et al, 2021). De modo complementario, se solicitó la elección del motivo de mayor preocupación relacionado con la pandemia.…”