ArticleSSM - population health2022
The mental health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic in older adults and the role of physical distancing interventions and social protection measures in 26 European countries.
Article in SSM - population health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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31 citing papers in PubMed, 95 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Thematic analysis of how general practitioners perceive digital social prescribing as an intervention aiming at promoting psychosocial health and wellbeing in older adults.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Psychological Distress in Older Adults Living in Puerto Rico during COVID-19.Journal of cross-cultural gerontology · 2025Article
- Changes in the Emergency Department Visits Among the Older Adults With Dementia Before, and After the Nationwide Social Distancing Measures: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2025Article
- Changes in self-reported physical and mental health, behaviour and economic status among adults by known seropositivity and sociodemographic factors before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Ischgl, Austria.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Evaluating changes in the well-being of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal cohort study.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- Adult child educational attainment and older parents' psychosocial outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2024Article
- THE EFFECTS OF RESTRICTIONS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MENTAL HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY.Acta clinica Croatica · 2024Review
- Positive and negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal survey study of the UK population.PloS one · 2024Article
- Older adults' experiences of wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative qualitative study in Italy and Switzerland.Frontiers in sociology · 2024Article
- Intimate partner violence and its correlates in middle-aged and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country secondary analysis.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Adherence to Physical Distancing and Health Beliefs About COVID-19 Among Patients With Cancer.Journal of Korean medical science · 2023Article
- Study on Health of Older People in Germany (Gesundheit 65+): objectives, design and implementation.Journal of health monitoring · 2023Article
- The impact of social-relationship patterns on worsening mental health among the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Hungary.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Telemedicine, Isolation, and Anxiety: The Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on an 87-Year-Old Woman.Cureus · 2023Article
- A scoping review of the impacts of COVID-19 physical distancing measures on vulnerable population groups.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Determinants of depressive symptoms increase in older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Czech cohort study using repeated assessments.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2023Article
- Robinson Crusoe: less or more depressed? With whom and where to live in a pandemic if you are above 50.Review of economics of the household · 2023Article
- A Mental Wealth perspective: crossing disciplines to understand the value of collective mental and social assets in the post-COVID-19 era.International journal of mental health systems · 2022Article
- Community vulnerability to the COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative synthesis from an ecological perspective.Journal of global health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses, such as physical distancing interventions, pose risks to mental health that could be mitigated by social support systems. We examine associations between changes in mental health in the population aged 50 years and older in Europe and stringency of pandemic responses and social protection.
methodsWe analysed data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe: n = 50,278 individuals aged 50 years and older in 26 European countries between June and August 2020. Linear multivariable regression models were used to evaluate potential risk factors for deterioration in self-reported mental health and investigate whether social protection systems mitigate it.
resultsAcross the European Union, 28.1% (95% CI:27.1-29.2) of participants reported worsening mental health since the beginning of the pandemic, ranging from 16.1% in Slovakia to 54.8% in Portugal. Factors associated with increased risk of deterioration included: being female (12.7 percentage points (ppt), 95%CI:9.2-16.2); experiencing unmet healthcare needs during the pandemic (14.6 ppt, 95%CI:11.2-18.1); job loss during the pandemic (6.2 ppt, 95%CI:1.1-11.8); and financial hardship (5.1 ppt, 95%CI:2.9-7.2). Greater stringency of physical distancing measures in countries was associated with worsening mental health (0.2 ppt per each one point increase on a stringency index, 95% CI:0.09-0.4); however, country-level pre-pandemic expenditures on various social protection packages was associated with decreased probability of worsening mental health (-1.3 ppt, 95%CI: 0.3 to -2.3 per €1,000 increase in health care expenditures per capita and, among the unemployed, -3.8 ppt, 95%CI: 1.6 to -2.4 per €100 increase in unemployment expenditure per capita).
conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with substantial mental health deterioration exhibiting social inequalities. Adverse mental health has been exacerbated by policy responses to the pandemic regulating physical distancing, but social protection expenditure might have helped mitigate the impact. Strengthening social protection systems might render the mental health of the population more resilient to the consequences of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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