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The impact of COVID-19 on the quality of life of older adults: a cross-sectional study in Athens, Greece

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

K. Argyropoulos ,
Z. Tagkalaki ,
A. Argyropoulou ,
D. Avramidis  and
E. Jelastopulu
K. Argyropoulos
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Patras, Public Health, Rio, Greece
Z. Tagkalaki
Affiliation:
Private practice, Internal Medicine, Athens, Greece
A. Argyropoulou
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Patras, Public Health, Rio, Greece
D. Avramidis*
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Patras, Public Health, Rio, Greece
E. Jelastopulu
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Patras, Public Health, Rio, Greece
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The COVID-19 has affected both physical and mental health of the elderly.

Objectives

The purpose of the present study was to estimate the impact of the second lockdown in Greece, on both quality of life and mental health in older people.

Methods

A cross sectional study was conducted among older adults who visited a primary care physician, from 1st of March to April 30th. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to collect basic sociodemographic data and implementation of hygiene precaution measures. The 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) to measure well-being, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) instrument was used to assess the anxiety levels and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) depressive symptoms of the responders, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS v.24.0

Results

222 elderly took part in the study. 62.6% were female. According to the WHO-5, 37.4% present poor quality of life. GDS-15 reveals that 70.7% of the participants screened positive for moderate depression and 1.8% with severe symptoms. GAD-7 results estimated 32.9% of the participants to suffer from serious anxiety disorder and 37.4% from moderate. GAD-7 and GDS-15 were strongly associated (p <0.05) with female gender, low educational level and with comorbidities (coronary disease, diabetes mellitus and skeletomuscular diseases). Health precaution measures were negative correlated with mental health of the elderly. However, in participants with frequent contact with family and friends, lower anxiety levels were detected.

Conclusions

Our results highlight that older adult has experienced negative impact on both quality of life and mental health during 2nd Covid-19 lockdown in Greece.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

GDS-15ElderlyWHO-5Covid-19
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S482
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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