Cross-national prevalence of mental disorders in older adults exposed to COVID-19 information.
Daniele Knopp Ribeiro, Fábio da Costa Carbogim, Patricia Rodrigues Braz and 7 others
PMID 40834128WHAT IT FOUND
Among older adults in Peru, Brazil and Mexico, 42.6% met the anxiety screening cutoff and 59.4% met the depression cutoff.
Frequent social media exposure, plus television use, were associated with anxiety screening; television and radio exposure were associated with depression screening. This cannot show cause.
Key findings
01Of 7,976 older adults, 3,395 (42.6%) reached the anxiety screening cutoff and 4,734 (59.4%) reached the depression screening cutoff.
02In the final adjusted model, frequent social media exposure was associated with 1.59 times the chance of anxiety screening compared with no exposure, and television use was associated with 1.20 times the chance.
03For depression, at least three hours of television exposure was associated with 1.66 times the chance of screening compared with no exposure, and at least one hour of radio exposure was associated with 1.21 times the chance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether media exposure led to anxiety or depression symptoms. Participants were recruited through a web-based survey with non-probability sampling, so the older adults who took part may not represent all older adults in these countries. The same screening instruments were adapted across countries, and the anxiety and depression cutoffs differed by country, which may affect prevalence estimates. Information quality, digital literacy and trust in news were not measured, so the study cannot say what kind of information was associated with symptoms.
Declared interests
The study was supported by CNPq, Grant # 403323/2021-5, Brazil.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that watching COVID-19 news caused anxiety or depression. The study measured exposure and symptoms at the same time, and some media exposure categories were associated with lower screening, so the direction of any relationship is not established.