Abstract P128: Self-Reported Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The C4R-MESA Study

Abstract

Background: Resilience, or the ability to bounce back from adversity, may be associated with health and wellbeing during disaster events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: To examine correlates of resilience, as self-reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, in multi-ethnic, US community-dwelling adults. Methods: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) assessed the impact of the pandemic on participants via questionnaires designed by the Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) Study. Based on one item from the Brief Resilience Scale, “I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times,” participants who responded with “agree” were defined as resilient and compared to those who responded “neutral” or “disagree” (not resilient). Logistic regression was used to test associations of resilience with age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, BMI, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, COVID infection history, insurance status, and household income. Results: Of 1880 participants (mean age 75.0±7.6 years; 55% female; 75% White, 55% Chinese, 81% Black, 75% Hispanic; 9% uninsured), 73% were identified as resilient. Race and ethnicity were significantly associated with resilience: compared to White, Black participants were more likely to report resilience (aOR:1.51;95%CI:1.10-2.06), and Chinese participants were less likely (aOR:0.47;95%CI:0.34-0.66). There were no differences in self-reported resilience, comparing Hispanic to White participants ( Table ). Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, three-quarters of community-dwelling US results reported that they were resilient. Variation in self-reported resilience was observed according to race and ethnicity. Further research is needed on resiliency and how it may influence psychosocial well-being and cardiovascular health.