• Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · Oct 2020

    Mental Health in Elderly Spanish People in Times of COVID-19 Outbreak.

    • Lorena García-Fernández, Verónica Romero-Ferreiro, López-RoldánPedro DavidPDDepartment of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario de San Juan, Alicante, Spain., Sergio Padilla, and Roberto Rodriguez-Jimenez.
    • Clinical Medicine Department, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Alicante, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario de San Juan, Alicante, Spain; CIBERSAM (Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Mental Health), Spain. Electronic address: lorena.garciaf@umh.es.
    • Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 1; 28 (10): 1040-1045.

    BackgroundWe aim to assess COVID-19 outbreak-related emotional symptoms, identify gender differences, and study the relationship between the emotional state and environmental features in the elderly.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study starting on March 29 to April 5, 2020 based on a national online survey using snowball sampling techniques. Symptoms of anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Scale), depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and acute stress (Acute Stress Disorder Inventory) were compared between people over and under 60 years old. Gender differences and the relationship of loneliness, regular exercise, economic losses and use of anxiolytics on the mental state were evaluated.ResultsOne thousand six hundred thirty-nine (150 [9.2%] aged ≥60) participants completed the survey. The greater than or equal to 60 group showed lower mean (SD) BDI levels than the less than 60 group (3.02 [3.28] versus 4.30 [4.93]); and lower mean (SD) acute stress disorder inventory scores than the less than 60 group (3.68 [3.20] versus 4.45 [3.06]). There were no gender differences in any of the clinical measures. The presence of economic losses as well as the increase in the use of anxiolytics was significantly associated with higher emotional distress in the elderly compared to the younger group.ConclusionsOlder people have shown less emotional distress, with no differences between men and women. Economic loss and substance use should be monitored to guarantee the emotional well-being of the elderly.Copyright © 2020 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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