COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in wellness behavior among older Americans

39Citations
Citations of this article
193Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 has taken its toll on citizens in all 50 states of the United States. The United States (U.S.) leads the world with 30,291,863 confirmed reported cases and 549,664 deaths as of March 29, 2021 compared to globally confirmed cases at 127,442,926 and 2,787,915 deaths as of March 29, 2021. The U.S. federal government primarily left the response to the virus to individual states, and each implemented varying measures designed to protect health of citizens and the state’s economic well-being. Unintended consequences of the virus and measures to stop its spread may include decreased physical activity and exercise, shifting access and consumption of food, and lower quality-of-life. Therefore, our primary goal was to quantify the impact of COVID-19 on health and well-being by measuring changes in physical activity, mental health-quality of life, food security and nutrition in adults ages 40 and older. We believed shifts in health behaviors would be more prevalent in minorities, less educated, lower socio-economic status, older adults, and those with underlying health conditions, so a secondary goal was to determine the impact of COVID-19 on these sub-populations. Methods: We conducted an online survey with 9969 adults 40 years and older between 9 August and 15 September 2020 in urban areas across the four U.S. census regions. The survey included questions about demographic variables, pre-existing health conditions, physical activity, access to food, quality-of-life, and nutritional food status and asked participants to respond with information from pre-pandemic and pandemic conditions. We used paired-sample t-tests to detect changes in variables after the start of the pandemic and Cohen’s d to determine effect sizes. Results: Our main findings showed a decrease in physical activity since the onset of COVID-19 for minorities and non-minorities. Food security also slightly increased for minorities during the pandemic, but we found no other changes in food security, quality-of-life indicators, or nutritional status of those who responded to this survey. Conclusions: It is concerning that physical activity declined. Such activity helps maintain physical and mental health, and it is also an important time to socialize for many older adults. In many ways, our data indicate that the older adult population in U.S. cities may be more resilient than expected during the pandemic. However, the pandemic could have negative impacts that we did not detect, either due to the survey instrument or the timing of our survey, so the health and well-being of older adults should continue to be monitored in order to mitigate potential negative impacts.

References Powered by Scopus

Depression, anxiety and stress during COVID-19: Associations with changes in physical activity, sleep, tobacco and alcohol use in Australian adults

954Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviours from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown: A systematic review

864Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The effectiveness of a short form of the household food security scale

698Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Flexible Wearables for Plants

78Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Mental Health Service Utilization Rates among Commercially Insured Adults in the US during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

31Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Change of Residents’ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Urban Green Space Pre- and Post- COVID-19 Pandemic

30Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Harrison, E., Monroe-Lord, L., Carson, A. D., Jean-Baptiste, A. M., Phoenix, J., Jackson, P., … Richardson, M. L. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in wellness behavior among older Americans. BMC Public Health, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10825-6

Readers over time

‘21‘22‘23‘24‘250255075100

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 36

61%

Researcher 10

17%

Lecturer / Post doc 7

12%

Professor / Associate Prof. 6

10%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Nursing and Health Professions 21

40%

Medicine and Dentistry 17

32%

Social Sciences 8

15%

Sports and Recreations 7

13%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free
0