COVID-19 related anxiety and its associated factors : a cross-sectional study on older adults in Bangladesh

Sabuj Kanti Mistry, A. R. M. Mehrab Ali, Uday Narayan Yadav, Sukanta Das, Nahida Akter, Md. Nazmul Huda, Setho Hadisuyatmana, Sajedur Rahman, David Lim, Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman

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Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in serious mental health conditions, particularly among older adults. This research explored the prevalence of COVID-19-related anxiety and its associated factors among older adults residing in Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,045 older Bangladeshi adults aged≥60 years through telephone interviews in September 2021. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect data on participants' characteristics and COVID-19-related anxiety. The anxiety level was measured using the Bengali version of the five-point Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS). A linear regression model explored the factors associated with COVID-19-related anxiety. Results: Overall, the prevalence of COVID-19-related anxiety was 23.2%. The regression analysis revealed that the average COVID-19-related anxiety score was significantly higher among females (β: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.81), and among those who faced difficulty getting medicine (β: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.97), felt isolated (β: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.95), and felt requiring additional care during the pandemic (β: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.91). Alternatively, the average COVID-19-related anxiety score was significantly lower among those who were widowed (β: -0.46, 95% CI: -0.87 to -0.04) and living distant from the health centre (β: -0.48, 95% CI: -0.79 to -0.17). Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest providing immediate psychosocial support package to the older adults, particularly females and those who are vulnerable to receive health and social care support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.
Original languageEnglish
Article number737
Number of pages11
JournalBMC Psychiatry
Volume22
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

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© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

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