Factors associated with social isolation and loneliness in community-dwelling older adults during pandemic times: a cross-sectional study
Psychosocial aspects need to be discussed in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, no studies have investigated the factors associated with social isolation and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults. Therefore, this study analyzed the association of social isolation and lonelin...
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| Published in: | Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical Vol. 54; p. e01952020 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Brazil
Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical - SBMT
01-01-2021
Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Psychosocial aspects need to be discussed in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, no studies have investigated the factors associated with social isolation and loneliness among community-dwelling older adults. Therefore, this study analyzed the association of social isolation and loneliness with socioeconomic, clinical, and health characteristics, and Covid-19-related variables, among community-dwelling older adults during the pandemic.
A cross-sectional study was conducted via a telephone survey of community-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 years in Macapa, Amapa, Brazil. A structured form was used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using Pearson's correlation test and a linear regression model.
Participants comprised 86 community-dwelling older adults with a mean age of 71.78+6.98 years. Among them, 9.3% were diagnosed with Covid-19, of whom 3.5% were hospitalized. Most participants reported no difficulty obtaining food, medicines, or attending routine medical appointments during the pandemic. Furthermore, 23.3% (n=20) were socially isolated, and 20.9% (n=18) reported feelings of loneliness. The mean values for fear, anxiety, and obsession were 19.01±7.25, 1.01±1.90, and 2.84±3.28, respectively. A moderate positive correlation was identified between loneliness and the number of diseases, and a weak positive correlation between loneliness and the number of medications and depressive symptoms and risk for sarcopenia. The linear regression model indicated that higher loneliness scores were associated with a greater number of diseases (β=0.288; p=0.007).
The findings suggest a probable resilience of the older population to Covid-19, despite the association of loneliness with many diseases in times of a pandemic. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. Authors’ contribution: MSP, DGO, APM, APM and ACPNP contributed to the conception and design of the study, its critical review and approval of the version to be published; CFRS, FCA and JSS contributed to the conception and design and the writing of the article; MSP performed data analysis and contributed to the writing of the article. |
| ISSN: | 0037-8682 1678-9849 1678-9849 |
| DOI: | 10.1590/0037-8682-0195-2020 |