A decreased trajectory of loneliness among Brazilians aged 50 years and older during the Covid-19 pandemic

Elsi-Brazil

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5166958
AutoresLuciana De Souza Braga (0000-0003-4499-6316, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, autor de correspondencia), Bruno De Souza Moreira (0000-0001-8840-4496, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil; Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil), J L Torres (0000-0002-3687-897X, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), Ana Carolina Da Silva Andrade (0000-0002-3366-4423, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso), Anna Carolina Lustosa Lima (0000-0001-5562-4206, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz), Camila Teixeira Vaz (0000-0002-1948-8769, Federal University of São João del-Rei), Elaine Leandro Machado (0000-0002-3226-3476, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa (0000-0001-5043-4980, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), Cleusa Pinheiro Ferri (0000-0002-1815-7685, Universidade Federal de São Paulo), Juliana Vaz De Melo Mambrini (0000-0002-0420-3062, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz)
Año2022
Volumen38
Número11
Páginase00106622-e00106622
Fecha de publicación2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCadernos de Saude Publica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0102-311X • E-ISSN: 1678-4464
EditorialFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/0102-311xen106622
PMID36921186
OpenAlexW4318609378
SCIELO_PIDS0102-311X2022001105010
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas33

This study aimed to estimate prevalence of loneliness among older Brazilian adults over the first seven months of the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the predictors of loneliness trajectories. Pre-pandemic data derived from face-to-face interviews of participants of the 2019-2020 Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), which is a nationally representative study of community-dwelling individuals aged 50 years and over. Pandemic data were based on three rounds of telephone interviews among those participants, conducted from May to October 2020. Loneliness was measured by a single-item question, considering those who had at least two repeated measures. Explanatory variables included depression, living alone, leaving home in the last week, and virtual connectedness in the last month. Mixed-effects logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios with their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and to investigate loneliness trajectories and their predictors. In total, 5,108 participants were included. The overall prevalence of loneliness in the pre-pandemic period was 33.1% (95%CI: 29.4-36.8), higher than the pandemic period (round 1: 23.6%, 95%CI: 20.6-26.9; round 2: 20.5%, 95%CI: 17.8-23.5; round 3: 20.6%, 95%CI: 17.1-24.6). A significant interaction (p ≤ 0.05) was evidenced only between depression and time; participants with depression showed a greater reduction in loneliness levels. Although loneliness levels in Brazil have decreased during the pandemic, this pattern is not present for all older adults. Individuals with depression had a more significant reduction, probably due to feeling closer to their social network members during the stay-at-home recommendations

Confidence interval · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Depression (economics) · Disease · Logistic regression · Loneliness · Odds · Odds ratio · Pandemic · Psychiatry · Sociology · Aging and Gerontology Research · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Demography · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology