Psychological Burden among Community-dwelling Older Adults with and without a History of a Recent Covid-19 Infection

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives: The outbreak of Covid-19’s psychological burden to recovered vs. non-infected older individuals has not been compared yet. We aimed to perform a comparative analysis of psychological symptoms in community-dwelling older adults with and without a history of a Covid-19 infection. Methods: In this study, we utilized a geriatric care unit’s outpatient registry to prospectively enroll older adults with and without a history of Covid-19. An interviewer administered generalized anxiety disorder-2 (GAD-2), patient health questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), six-item cognitive impairment (6-CIT), and post-traumatic stress disorder-5 (PTSD-5) tests over the phone. Correlation and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine associations. Results: The study included 120 older subjects, 46 (38.3%) reported past Covid-19 infection. Anxiety and depression were both significantly more prevalent among subjects without a history of Covid-19. Having no history of Covid-19, female gender, and psychoactive medication use showed independent associations with the risk of depression symptoms among all subjects, and female gender was additionally associated with anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: This study showed that the risk of depression symptoms was higher in a sample of older adults who were not infected with Covid-19 compared to those recovering from the disease. Clinical implications: The impact of “fear of transmission” on the mental health of the elderly may be a significant issue to deal with. Older women are more prone to mental health risks by Covid-19.