COVID Pandemic Depression Persists Among Older Adults

Research uses data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of older people living in the community, and those who are lonely are faring much worse, according to new research from McMaster University.

Using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a national team of researchers found that 43% of adults age 50 or older experienced moderate or high levels of depressive symptoms at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that it increased over time. time.

Loneliness was the main predictor of worsening depressive symptoms, while other pandemic-related stressors, such as family conflict, also increased the likelihood.

The study was published Nov. 25, 2021 in the journal Nature Aging.

Parminder Raina, a professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact and scientific director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging. Credit: McMaster University

The research was led by Parminder Raina, a professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact and scientific director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on older adults, with groups of people who were already marginalized feeling a much greater negative impact,” said Raina, principal investigator of the CLSA.

“Those who were socially isolated, had poorer health, and had lower socioeconomic status were more likely to have worsening depression compared to their pre-pandemic depression status, collected as part of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging since 2011.”

The research team included CLSA principal investigators Christina Wolfson of McGill University, Susan Kirkland of Dalhousie University, Lauren Griffith of McMaster, along with a national team of researchers.

They used telephone and web surveys to examine how health-related factors and social determinants such as income and social participation influenced the prevalence of depressive symptoms during the initial lockdown from March 2020 and after reopening after the first wave of COVID-19 in Canada.

Nurturing responsibilities, separation from family, family conflict, and loneliness were associated with a greater likelihood of moderate or high levels of depressive symptoms that got worse over time.

Women were also more likely to experience depressive symptoms during the pandemic compared to men, and a higher proportion of women reported family separation, more time spent on caregiving, and barriers to caregiving.

Overall, older adults were twice as likely to have depressive symptoms during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. But those with lower incomes and poorer health, either due to pre-existing health conditions or health problems reported during the pandemic, had a greater impact.

“These findings suggest that the negative impacts of the pandemic on mental health persist and may worsen over time and underscore the need for tailored interventions to address pandemic stressors and their impact on the mental health of older adults. reduce,” Raina added.

The findings mark the first published COVID-19 study to emerge from the CLSA, a national research platform on aging that involved more than 50,000 community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults in the recruitment process. The platform is funded by the Government of Canada through and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Reference: “A Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Middle and Older Adults from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging” by Parminder Raina, Christina Wolfson, Lauren Griffith, Susan Kirkland, Jacqueline McMillan, Nicole Basta, Divya Joshi, Urun Erbas Oz, Nazmul Sohel, Geva Maimon, Mary Thompson and CLSA team, November 25, 2021, Nature Aging.
DOI: 10.1038/s43587-021-00128-1

Additional funding for the CLSA COVID-19 questionnaire study was provided by the Juravinski Research Institute, McMaster University, the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, the Nova Scotia COVID-19 Health Research Coalition and the Public Health Agency of Canada.