Stress, Depression, and Anxiety Symptoms in Older Adults: Temporal Trend and Relationship with COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction. Although studies have demonstrated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, those correlating COVID-19 statistics with the psychosocial repercussions in older adults are as yet incipient. Objective. Evaluate the screening of stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms in older adults throughout the pandemic and their relationship with the occurrence and severity metrics of COVID-19. Method. An ecological, time-series, web-based survey study was conducted in the population aged 60 and over who use digital media. Data collection was undertaken between July 2020 and January 2021 in eight Brazilian cities and included 2,712 older adults. Results. There was an upward trend in anxiety and depression symptoms in Brasília-DF, and a downward trend in these symptoms in Divinópolis-MG. It was also possible to identify correlations between mental disorder symptom scores and COVID-19 occurrence and severity metrics in two of the cities evaluated. Discussion and conclusion. This study is one of the first to explore the relationship between COVID-19 indicators and mental health variables in older adults, showing that changes in the occurrence and severity metrics of the Novel Coronavirus may be followed by changes in the frequency of mental health problems in this population.