Relationships between pre-pandemic mental health, sociodemographic factors and health behaviours in older adults during the acute onset of COVID-19 in Australia: A descriptive analysis

by Nicole Lovato, Sarah L. Appleton, Amy C.

Reynolds, Tiffany K. Gill, Sean Martin, Gary A.

Wittert, Robert J. Adams Objective To gain a comprehensive understanding of associations between mental health symptoms and sociodemographic and health factors assessed during COVID-19 restrictions in existing, longitudinal community-based cohorts.

Methods Participants of The North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS, n = 982) and the Florey Adelaide Male Ageing Study (FAMAS, n = 338) in South Australia, undertook a COVID-19 impacts survey during October 2020-May 2021. The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (score≥16;NWAHS) and the Beck Depression Inventory 1A (score≥13;FAMAS) were used to characterise mild-severe depressive symptoms.

The Generalised Anxiety Disorder questionnaire was used to identify moderate-severe anxiety (score 10–21). Results Of 1,320 participants (male n = 797), 62.4% (n = 824) were aged ≥65years (range 36−100 years), and 37.8% reported workforce participation at the time of the COVID-19 survey.