Impact of COVID‐19 on life experiences reported by a diverse cohort of older adults with diabetes and obesity

Objective This study aimed to measure the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on self‐reported life experiences in older adults with diabetes and obesity. Methods Participants were surveyed in 2020 regarding negative and positive impacts of the pandemic across domains of personal, social, and physical e...

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Published inObesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 1268 - 1278
Main Authors Wagenknecht, Lynne E., Chao, Ariana M., Wadden, Thomas A., McCaffery, Jeanne M., Hayden, Kathleen M., Laferrère, Blandine, Clark, Jeanne M., Johnson, Karen C., Howard, Marjorie J., Yanovski, Susan Z., Wing, Rena R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2022
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subjects
Adaptation
African Americans
Age
Aged
Cardiovascular disease
Chronic illnesses
Comorbidity
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology
Ethnicity
Female
Geriatrics
Hispanic Americans
Humans
Infections
Intervention
Life Change Events
Male
Medical research
Minority & ethnic groups
Obesity
Obesity - epidemiology
Older people
Original
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Pandemics
Questionnaires
Race
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Womens health
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Summary:Objective This study aimed to measure the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on self‐reported life experiences in older adults with diabetes and obesity. Methods Participants were surveyed in 2020 regarding negative and positive impacts of the pandemic across domains of personal, social, and physical experiences. A cumulative negative risk index (a count of all reported negative impacts of 46 items) and a positive risk index (5 items) were characterized in relation to age, sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, and multimorbidity. Results Response rate was high (2950/3193, 92%), average age was 76 years, 63% were women, and 39% were from underrepresented populations. Women reported more negative impacts than men (6.8 vs. 5.6; p < 0.001 [of 46 items]) as did persons with a greater multimorbidity index (p < 0.001). Participants reporting African American/Black race reported fewer negative impacts than White participants. Women also reported more positive impacts than men (1.9 vs. 1.6; p < 0.001 [of 5 items]). Conclusions Older adults with diabetes and obesity reported more positive impacts of the pandemic than negative impacts, relative to the number of positive (or negative) items presented. Some subgroups experienced greater negative impacts (e.g., for women, a greater multimorbidity index). Efforts to reestablish personal, social, and physical health after the pandemic could target certain groups.
Bibliography:Funding information
Funded by the NIH through cooperative agreements with the National Institute on Aging: AG058571 and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): DK57136, DK57149, DK56990, DK57177, DK57171, DK57151, DK57182, DK57131, DK57002, DK57078, DK57154, DK57178, DK57219, DK57008, DK57135, and DK56992. Additional funding was provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Nursing Research; National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities; NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIDDK. The Indian Health Service (IHS) provided personnel, medical oversight, and use of facilities. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IHS or other funding sources. Additional support was received from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Bayview General Clinical Research Center (M01RR02719); the Massachusetts General Hospital Mallinckrodt General Clinical Research Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Clinical Research Center (M01RR01066); the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (RR025758‐04); the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center General Clinical Research Center (M01RR00051) and Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (P30 DK48520); the University of Tennessee at Memphis General Clinical Research Center (M01RR0021140); the University of Pittsburgh General Clinical Research Center (M01RR000056), the Clinical Translational Research Center funded by the Clinical & Translational Science Award (UL1 RR 024153) and NIH grant (DK 046204); the VA Puget Sound Health Care System Medical Research Service, Department of Veterans Affairs; and the Frederic C. Bartter General Clinical Research Center (M01RR01346).
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ISSN:1930-7381
1930-739X
DOI:10.1002/oby.23429