Pandemic depression persists among older adults: Study

New Delhi : The coronavirus lockdown has impacted the mental health of older adults living in the community, with those who are lonely faring far worse, according to new research from McMaster University.

Taking note from the data by the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a national team of researchers found that 43 per cent of adults aged 50 or older experienced moderate or high levels of depressive symptoms at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that increased over time.

In the study, loneliness was found to be the most significant predictor of worsening depressive symptoms, with other pandemic-related stressors, such as family conflict, also increasing the odds.

The research was led by Parminder Raina, a professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact and scientific director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging. 

"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionated impact on older adults, with groups of people who were already marginalized feeling a far greater negative impact," news agency ANI quoted Raina, lead principal investigator of the CLSA. 

"Those who were socially isolated, experiencing poorer health and of lower socioeconomic status were more likely to have worsening depression as compared to their pre-pandemic depression status collected as part of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging since 2011."

They used telephone and web survey data to examine how health-related factors and social determinants such as income and social participation, impacted the prevalence of depressive symptoms during the initial lockdown starting March 2020 and after re-opening following the first wave of COVID-19 in Canada.