MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF OLDER CARERS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: EVIDENCE FROM ENGLAND

Older people caring at home or in the community play a vital role in supporting population health and wellbeing and in protecting health and care systems, often at cost to their own health. Yet there has been very little research or policy attention given to this group of carers during the pandemic. Exploiting longitudinal data from Wave 9 (2018/19) and the first two COVID-19 sub-studies (June/July 2020;November/December 2020) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we use logistic and linear regression models to investigate associations between changes in provision of informal care and mental health during the pandemic, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, pre-pandemic physical and mental health, and social isolation measures. During the first months of the pandemic, about a quarter of older people provided informal care (with ~10% caring for members living in the same household). Those caring in the household experience worse mental health during the pandemic. Even controlling for prior characteristics and lack of social interactions, those caring for family members in the household had higher odds of reporting elevated depressive symptoms (OR=1.67, 95%CI=1.07;2.62), poor self-rated health (OR=1.73, 95%CI=1.09;2.73), anxiety (OR=2.21, 95%CI=1.20;4.06) as well as lower quality of life (B=-0.85, 95%CI=-1.66;-0.05) and life satisfaction (B=-0.43;95%CI=-0.78;-0.09) than those who were caring for friends and family outside the household. As we aim to build back society and restore the wellbeing of our populations, policies and services should be better directed to support those people who during the pandemic struggled to cope while caring for their family members.

THE CORONAVIRUS JOB RETENTION SCHEME AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG OLDER WORKERS: EVIDENCE FROM ENGLAND

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major economic disruptions. In March 2020, the UK implemented the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme –known as furlough –to minimize the impact of job losses. So far, little is known on the mental health impact of this scheme on older workers, and on whether this varies by job characteristics. Exploiting longitudinal data from Wave 9 (2018/19) and two COVID-19 sub-studies (June/July 2020;November/December 2020) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing we use logistic and linear regression models to investigate associations between changes of employment and mental health during the pandemic. About 10% of respondents aged 52-67 were furloughed in the initial phase of the pandemic. Overall, employment disruption was associated with changes in mental health, although results suggest differences by pre-pandemic job characteristics (i.e. hours worked, physical effort, social class, and stress measured by the effort-reward imbalance model).

ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH BEHAVIORS WITH WEIGHT AND OBESITY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG THE UK OLDER POPULATION

Using a sample of 4,182 UK adults aged 50 and above, this study explored the association of changes in health behaviours with weight and obesity during UK lockdown in Jun/Jul and Nov/Dec 2020. Over 30% adults reported more sitting, more TV watching or less exercise. Around 20% adults were engaged in eating more or sleeping less. More alcohol drinking happened in 12.3% adults. Results suggested that more sedentariness, more TV watching, less exercise, more eating and more alcohol drinking were associated with a significant increase in weight. Meanwhile, less sedentariness or less eating significantly reduced weight in Nov/Dec 2020. A higher risk of obesity was found in adults sitting, eating, or sleeping more than usual. Considering potential health risks associated with obesity in older population, weight management is necessary nationwide.