Prevalence and Predictors of Depression, Anxiety and Stress among Elderly in the aftermath of COVID-19: A Quantitative Study from Central India
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Abstract
Background
Elderly persons have been more prone to depression, anxiety and stress during COVID-19 pandemic. They need more care and support towards mental health during these difficult times.
Methodology
This was a cross-sectional and quantitative study conducted in the state of Madhya Pradesh, during the month of March 2021 to August 2021. Participants were recruited from a population aged more than 60 years, those who were able to read and write Hindi/English or having at least one family member; reporting to a tertiary care teaching hospital during the second wave of COVID-19 in India. Those who were confirmed COVID-19 cases & undergoing treatment, with diagnosed mental health disorders and who didn’t give consent were excluded. A semi-structured questionnaire along with DASS-21 scale was completed by participants online.
Results
Out of 690 subjects, 7.25% had mild and moderate depression, 0.58% had severe and extremely severe depression. Mild and moderate anxiety symptoms were reported by 9.56%, 2.46% reported severe and extremely severe anxiety. Mild and moderate stress was reported by 4.78%, while 0.42% were severely and extremely stressed. A positive statistical association was found between alcohol addiction and depression ( p =0.028). The elderly subjects had a nap the day time were significantly less depressed during COVID-19 pandemic ( p =0.033). It was found that older the subjects, more were they anxious during the pandemic ( p =0.042). An association was found between alcohol addiction and stress ( p =0.043).
Conclusions
Depressive symptoms in participants were positively correlated with alcohol addiction. Females reported higher level of stress. There is a felt need to formulate psychological interventions for elderly to improve their mental health and psychological resilience. We need to tackle and fight the stigma, fear and anxiety related to the COVID-19, which is greater than disease itself.
Key message
What is already known
Psychological problems like anxiety, depressive symptoms, fearfulness, a state of uncertainty and stress are common in all age groups; furthermore older adults are more prone to develop mental health issues in wake of stressful situations.
What this study adds to
About one fourth of elderly developed anxiety, depression and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effect on practice and policy
There is a need for proactive identification through screening of elderly for mental health issues following unprecedented stress like COVID-19 pandemic.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2022.03.10.22272024: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: Sample selection: A sample size of 690 subjects was recruited through online survey after the approval of Institutional Human Ethics Committee of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India (Letter No. IHEC-LOP/2020/EF0221, dated: 24/12/2020).
Consent: A written consent was taken from the participants after explaining the detail about research work.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis The sample size for this study was calculated as per a previous study by Gorrochategi et al. using DASS-21 scale, [12] taking prevalence of depression and anxiety in the age group ≥ 60 years as 18.6% and 13.5% … SciScore for 10.1101/2022.03.10.22272024: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics IRB: Sample selection: A sample size of 690 subjects was recruited through online survey after the approval of Institutional Human Ethics Committee of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India (Letter No. IHEC-LOP/2020/EF0221, dated: 24/12/2020).
Consent: A written consent was taken from the participants after explaining the detail about research work.Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis The sample size for this study was calculated as per a previous study by Gorrochategi et al. using DASS-21 scale, [12] taking prevalence of depression and anxiety in the age group ≥ 60 years as 18.6% and 13.5% respectively and applying the formula for cross-sectional study as 4pq/d2, taking 80% power, relative precision to be 20%, and non-response to be 10%, it was found that minimum sample size required was 482 and 690 respectively. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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