A new study suggests that around one in eight older Canadians experienced depression for the first time during the pandemic.
Results of a survey of more than 20,000 Canadian adults aged 50 and over, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, identified quantitative data showing predominant increases in depression in older adults with no prior mental health problems. .
Andie MacNeil, a researcher at the University of Toronto and an author of the study, said in a news release Thursday that this high rate of onset depression “highlights the substantial mental health toll the pandemic has inflicted on a group of older adults who before they were mentally healthy”. .”
The study determined numerous factors that were correlated with declining mental health among older adults during the pandemic, including financial hardship, a sense of loneliness and isolation, and family conflict.
The researchers also tested survey participants with a history of deteriorating mental health and found that nearly half (45 percent) of the group reported a state of depression by fall 2020.
Sapirya Birk, another study co-author and a researcher at Carleton University, sees how the pandemic hit people with a history of depression particularly hard, and what this data should mean for evaluating mental health care and resources. .
“Health care professionals must be vigilant when evaluating their patients who had mental health problems earlier in their lives,” he said in the statement.
In addition to identifying a rampant increase in cases of depression across the country, the data also determined demographic susceptibilities for mental health decline among people of low socioeconomic status.
Older Canadians with chronic pain who had difficulty accessing regular treatments, medications or healthcare services were more likely to experience depression in fall 2020.
The research also indicated that adults who experienced family conflict during the COVID-19 outbreak were three times more likely to develop depression compared to those who did not.
“We hope our findings can help health and social work professionals improve targeted screening and outreach to identify and care for older adults at increased risk of depression,” MacNeil said.
