According to a new study, the Covid-19 pandemic significantly affected the mental health of older people, especially those who live alone. The study was published in the journal Nature Aging.
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Researchers used data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to examine how health-related factors and social determinants impacted the prevalence of depressive symptoms during the initial lockdown in March 2020.
The team found that 43 percent of adults aged 50 or older experienced moderate or high levels of depressive symptoms at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and that increased over time.
Older adults had twice the odds of depressive symptoms during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic and those with lower income and poorer health experienced a greater impact, researchers concluded.
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