Effects of behavioral restrictions on subjective health perceptions of community elderly during a novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) epidemic

Abstract

We conducted a longitudinal study of subjective health perceptions of community elderly during the COVID-19 epidemic and examined the factors that led to the subjective feelings of health to deteriorate for some of the participants in a follow-up survey. The results showed that the rate of “decreased motor function” was significantly higher (p=0.01) in the “deteriorating health group” compared with the “health maintenance group” and the score of the “old-age-style instrumental independence” factor was lower (p=0.02) in the deteriorating health group compared to the health maintenance group. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the factors related to the subjective sense of health deterioration, and the results showed that “decreased motor function” was significantly associated with the feeling of deterioration of the subjective sense of health (p=0.04).

The results suggest that the subjective sense of health of the elderly was affected even during the short 5-month period of the COVID-19 epidemic. Although lifestyles are now returning to the pre-COVID-19 epidemic levels, there is a need for continued longitudinal investigation of subjective health perceptions.