The Role of Neuropsychological Factors in Perceived Threat of SARS-CoV-2 in Healthy Ageing

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is known to increase older adults’ vulnerability to adverse outcomes. Alongside increased physical frailty, anxiety symptoms associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 contagion appear to represent its most prominent ‘sequelae’. The attentional and linguistic resources required for decoding virus-related information may also influence the perceived threat of contagion. However, the possible role of neuropsychogeriatric factors on the latter dimension has never been assessed in a longitudinal study on the older population. To fill this gap, 50 healthy cognitively preserved older adults underwent a neuropsychological and physical frailty assessment before the pandemic (T0). Subsequently, they agreed to be interviewed and re-assessed during the lockdown (T1) and immediately after it (T2) through a longitudinal one-year study. Perceived threat of SARS-CoV-2 at T2 was predicted both by baseline anxiety and frailty scores, and by decreased performance in information processing speed and language comprehension tests. While confirming the joint role of frailty and anxiety, a moderation/interaction model showed that each of them was sufficient, at its highest level, to support the maximum degree of perceived threat of contagion. The contribution of neuropsychological factors to perceived threat of SARS-CoV-2 highlights their importance of tailoring information campaigns addressed to older people.

Are Sleep Problems Related to Psychological Distress in Healthy Aging during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Review

“…Indeed, during a difficult period, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and isolation might exacerbate sleep problems and psychological distress already present in the older population, leading to greater negative health status outcomes [50]. Moreover, cognitive, psychological, and functional aspects in older adults in healthy aging may have a critical role in both fatigue due to home confinement restrictive measures [52] and the perceived threat of SARS-CoV-2's risk of contagion [54].…”

“…Furthermore, anxiety and depression are the most frequently reported and studied psychological changes in the literature regarding the COVID-19 pandemic [100]. They are very common in older adults, as a consequence to social isolation [101], particularly with regard to fear of contagion [54,102] and the so-called "lockdown fatigue" [52].…”

“…In particular, a recent study found that the so-called "lockdown fatigue" seemed to be related to the complex interrelationship between cognitive, psychological, and physical factors in the older population [52]. In this direction, another study showed that mood deflection, in terms of anxiety, a physical pre-frailty status [53], and a decrease in the speed of processing environmental information, could influence the perceived threat of SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in healthy aging subjects [54].…”

“…The lifestyle changes occurred because of the COVID-19 home confinement, which might have exacerbated symptoms in older adults, particularly the frailest ones, leading to the so-called "Corona-Frailty" [109] and to higher perceived threat of being infected by the COVID-19 virus [54]. Indeed, frailty is a condition characterized by greater vulnerability associated with age-related decline in biological functions and systems, which might affect the ability to deal with stressors [6].…”

Risk perception and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: Predicting variables of compliance with lockdown measures

“…Emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, prompted behavioural scientists to examine people’s actual choices in the face of potential consequences and to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies aimed at encouraging adaptive behaviour [ 18 ]. Behavioural economics offers tools and insights to investigate individuals’ choices, and promote desired behaviours, even in extraordinary contingencies in which the lack of consistent data (e.g., about the actual risk of contagion) represents a challenge for people’s ability to make choices by weighing individual dispositions and external pressures [ 19 – 23 ]. In the acute lockdown stage, the behavioural effects of the well-known human biases in judgment and decision-making [ 24 , 25 ] might thus be heightened by the need to filter an unprecedented amount of incoming information from multiple, often contradictory, sources [ 26 ].…”