The anxiety level and its associated factors of the communitydwelling older adults during COVID-19 epidemic

ABSTRACT

Background: The psychological well-being of older adults may have been negatively affected by the outbreak of the COVID- 19 epidemic due to the presence of comorbidity, increased risk of complications, mortality, and difficulty in adapting to mhealth and social isolation. The study aimed to investigate the anxiety level of community older adults during the COVID-19 epidemic and explore its associated factors, so that there can be more evidence-based advice to improve the mental health status for the older adults. Methods: Online questionnaires and face to face communication were used to investigate 320 community older adults, who were selected randomly. The questionnaires were used to investigate the sociodemographic characteristics, anxiety and resilience level of the participants. One-way ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis were performed to explore the factors associated with the anxiety among the older adults. Results: The mean of the anxiety among the all participants is 44.03±10.89 and 128 persons (40%) suffer from the anxiety (mild anxiety 84.38%, moderate anxiety 14.06%, severe anxiety 14.06%). The mean of resilience is 56.68±18.26, and the three dimensions of CD-RISC is negative correlation with the anxiety. The SAS can be influenced by the chronic disease history (P=0.045), physical health conditions (P=0.024), economic income (P=0.026), the health education of the COVID-19 epidemic (P<0.001) and the level of resilience (P=0.002). Conclusions: The morbidity and score of the anxiety among the community older adults are higher during the COVID-19 epidemic than the usual. While the score of the CD-RISC is lower than the previous studies. Anxiety emerged as a prominent issue for community- dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 epidemic. Interventions that targeted resilience may have the potential to reduce anxiety level and improve the psychological well-being of the older adults.