Vulnerable populations during COVID-19 response: Health-related quality of life among Chinese population and its influence due to socio-demographic factors and loneliness

Abstract

BackgroundInfection control policy affected people's wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those vulnerable populations. This study aimed to compare the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the Hong Kong (HK) Chinese population under the pandemic with the normative profiles and explore its influencing factors, including socio-demographic characteristics, loneliness, and the interaction between them.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey (301 online and 202 in-person) was conducted between June and December 2020 among the adult Chinese population during the 2nd wave of COVID-19 in HK. HRQoL was measured by a Hong Kong validated EQ-5D-5L instrument (EQ-5D-5L HK). Loneliness was measured by a single-item question regarding the frequency of the participants reporting feeling lonely and their subjective social status was measured by the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status. A series of Tobit regressions was conducted. The interaction terms between socio-demographics and loneliness were also examined to decide their association with HRQoL.ResultsA total of 503 responses were collected. The level of HRQoL of the respondents was significantly lower than the referred norms profile among the local general population. The findings identified that younger age, single, a higher subjective social status, and a lower level of loneliness were significantly associated with better HRQoL. Moreover, age and marital status were significant moderators in the relationship between loneliness and HRQoL.ConclusionThe present study found that some population groups face additional vulnerabilities during the pandemic in terms of declined HRQoL. In addition, reducing loneliness can protect the HRQoL during the pandemic, especially among older people. This article provides useful information for policy-makers to design and promote effective services or provide education to improve the connection of people and recover from the global pandemic.

The Mediatory Role of the Boredom and Loneliness Dimensions in the Development of Problematic Internet Use

“…Loneliness may favor the likelihood in developing depressive and anxiety disorders, alcohol and/or substance use and abuse, as well as incentivizing smoking habits [39]. Both these dimensions have been further investigated due to their dramatic increase among young people, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic [38,[40][41][42][43][44]. Moreover, recent studies also explored the potential association between the boredom and loneliness dimensions with PIU, suggesting a hypothetical mediatory role of both dimensions in the onset and maintenance of PIU in vulnerable people, or suggesting the moderated role of distress tolerance in the association between PIU and boredom proneness/loneliness [36], even though there are not currently studies specifically investigating both dimensions together in PIU in Italian young adults [27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”