The impact of COVID-19 restrictions on older adults' loneliness: Evidence from high-frequency panel data in Austria (2020-2022).

ABSTRACT:

Background

It is unclear how strong and long lasting the effects of recurring COVID-19 pandemic restrictions are on older adults' loneliness.

Methods

457 retired older Austrians (60+) provided 9,489 repeated observations of loneliness across 30 survey waves of the Austrian Corona Panel Project between March 2020 and March 2022. Ordinal mixed regression models were used to estimate the effect of time-varying country-level strictness of COVID-19 restrictions (stringency index, range=0-100) on older adult's loneliness.

Results

The proportion of older adults who reported to be often lonely correlated (r = 0.45) with the stringency index over time: both peaked during lock-downs (stringency index = 82, often lonely = 10%-13%) and were lowest during the summer of 2020 (strin

SUBMITTER: Stolz E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9753455 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature