Gender-based depression factors of older adults in England during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Abstract Background The proportion of older adults in the United Kingdom is increasing. In addition, 487,100 older adults experience a major depressive disorder and 191,740 experience chronic depressive disorder. Depression was one of the significant mental health issues that attracted increasing attention soon after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Several studies conducted among older adults investigated the change in depressive symptoms and have yielded inconsistent findings. However, studies on gender-based depression factors for older adults in the UK during the pandemic are limited. This study aims to examine differences in depression depending on gender and other participant characteristics and identify factors related to depression by gender among older adults in the UK. Methods This study conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Covid-19 sub-study (wave 1). Depressive symptoms were assessed by the 8-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Differences in depression during the pandemic periods and factors related to depression by gender were assessed by chi-square tests and binary logistic regression using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS). Results Seven thousand and forty participants were included; 56.5% of the sample were women, 43.5% were men, and the most frequently occurring age group was people aged 60–69. The depression scores among women were significantly higher than those of men. Gender was statistically associated with depression. Self-reported health, quality of sleep and social isolation were the most significant predictors of depression for both older men and women. However, current employment status due to COVID-19 and low educational level were specifically related to depression in older women. For older men, alcohol drinking and lower communication with family were significant factors of depression. Conclusions Our results suggest women experienced higher scores of depressions than men in response to the pandemic. However, the differences in factors related to depression among men and women were almost similar. These findings underscore the necessity to assess and intervene with the factors affecting depression to preserve the psychological well-being of older adults. Nevertheless, future policies should also 1 consider developing ways that support the influence groups to limit the adverse impact on mental health and maintain optimal mental health status during the pandemic crisis.