Observational studySocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2023
The impact of COVID-19 related adversity on the course of mental health during the pandemic and the role of protective factors: a longitudinal study among older adults in The Netherlands.
Observational study in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association of social networks and depression in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Changes in mental health outcomes of middle-aged and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review.PloS one · 2026Article
- Social network characteristics and levels of fluctuations in momentary depressive symptomatology among older adults.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2025Article
- The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam: design and cohort update 2025.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Depression, Anxiety, Resilience, and Family Functioning Among Different Age Groups During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A One-Year Longitudinal Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Cognitive functioning in older transgender individuals receiving long-term gender-affirming hormone therapy.International journal of transgender health · 2025Article
- The relationship between safety measures, preparedness, and mental health outcomes in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Management of Depression and Anxiety in Perioperative Medicine.Anesthesiology · 2024Review
- Factors associated with change in moderate or severe symptoms of anxiety and depression in community-living adults and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2024Article
- Influence of gender identity on the adoption of religious-spiritual, preventive and emotion-focused coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMany studies report about risk factors associated with adverse changes in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic while few studies report about protective and buffering factors, especially in older adults. We present an observational study to assess protective and buffering factors against COVID-19 related adverse mental health changes in older adults.
methods899 older adults (55 +) in the Netherlands were followed from 2018/19 to two pandemic time points (June-October 2020 and March-August 2021). Questionnaires included exposure to pandemic-related adversities ("COVID-19 exposure"), depressive and anxiety symptoms, loneliness, and pre-pandemic functioning. Linear regression analyses estimated main effects of COVID-19 exposure and protective factors on mental health changes; interaction effects were tested to identify buffering factors.
resultsCompared to pre-pandemic, anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms and loneliness increased. A higher score on the COVID-19 adversity index was associated with stronger negative mental health changes. Main effects: internet use and high mastery decreased depressive symptoms; a larger network decreased anxiety symptoms; female gender, larger network size and praying decreased loneliness. COVID-19 vaccination buffered against COVID-19 exposure-induced anxiety and loneliness, a partner buffered against COVID-19 exposure induced loneliness.
conclusionExposure to COVID-19 adversity had a cumulative negative impact on mental health. Improving coping, finding meaning, stimulating existing religious and spiritual resources, network interventions and stimulating internet use may enable older adults to maintain mental health during events with large societal impact, yet these factors appear protective regardless of exposure to specific adversities. COVID-19 vaccination had a positive effect on mental health.
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