Association of COVID-19 Infection with Sociodemographic, Anthropometric and Lifestyle Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study in an Older Adults’ Population Aged over 65 Years Old

Eleni Pavlidou; Sousana K. Papadopoulou; Georgios Antasouras; Theofanis Vorvolakos; Olga Alexatou; Gerasimos Tsourouflis; Exakousti-Petroula Angelakou; Aspasia Serdari; Maria G. Grammatikopoulou; Evmorfia Psara; Konstantinos Vadikolias; Antonios Dakanalis; Nikolaos Lefantzis; Constantinos Giaginis

doi:10.3390/diseases11040165

Diseases (Nov 2023)

Association of COVID-19 Infection with Sociodemographic, Anthropometric and Lifestyle Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study in an Older Adults’ Population Aged over 65 Years Old

Eleni Pavlidou,
Sousana K. Papadopoulou,
Georgios Antasouras,
Theofanis Vorvolakos,
Olga Alexatou,
Gerasimos Tsourouflis,
Exakousti-Petroula Angelakou,
Aspasia Serdari,
Maria G. Grammatikopoulou,
Evmorfia Psara,
Konstantinos Vadikolias,
Antonios Dakanalis,
Nikolaos Lefantzis,
Constantinos Giaginis

Affiliations

Eleni Pavlidou: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece
Sousana K. Papadopoulou: Department of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences, International Hellenic University, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Georgios Antasouras: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece
Theofanis Vorvolakos: Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandoupoli, Greece
Olga Alexatou: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece
Gerasimos Tsourouflis: Second Department of Propedeutic Surgery, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Exakousti-Petroula Angelakou: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece
Aspasia Serdari: Department of Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupoli, Greece
Maria G. Grammatikopoulou: Unit of Immunonutrition and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, 41110 Larissa, Greece
Evmorfia Psara: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece
Konstantinos Vadikolias: Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, 68100 Alexandroupoli, Greece
Antonios Dakanalis: Department of Mental Health and Addiction, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, 20900 Monza, Italy
Nikolaos Lefantzis: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Medical School, Attikon Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Chaidari, 12462 Athens, Greece
Constantinos Giaginis: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Environment, University of Aegean, 81400 Myrina, Greece

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases11040165
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 4
p. 165

Abstract

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unfavorable disruptions to daily living routines by exerting deleterious effects on several aspects of human mental and physical health and quality of life worldwide. The purpose of the current survey is to explore the potential association of COVID-19 infection with multiple sociodemographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey including 5197 older adults aged over 65 years old from 10 geographically diverse regions of Greece. Relevant questionnaires were used to record study the population sociodemographic factor, while anthropometric parameters were also measured. Validated questionnaires were also applied to assess several lifestyle factors such as depression, anxiety, stress, cognitive status, sleep quality, health-related quality of life, physical activity levels, and Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence. Results: In multivariate regression analysis, COVID-19 infection was significantly, independently related with urban residence (p = 0.0107), regular smoking (p = 0.0218), overweight status and obesity (p = 0.0036), as well as abdominal obesity (p = 0.0008), higher risk of depression (p = 0.0027), anxiety (p = 0.0045), stress (p = 0.0038), inadequate sleep quality (p = 0.0108), lower physical activity levels (p = 0.0012), reduced MD compliance (p = 0.0009), and poor health-related quality of life (p = 0.0002). In univariate analysis, older adults’ age (p = 0.0001), male gender (p = 0.0015), living alone (p = 0.0023), lower educational and economic level (p = 0.0175 and p = 0.0294, respectively), and cognition decline (p = 0.0032) were also related with the presence of COVID-19 infection; however, these associations were considerably attenuated at a non-significant level by adjustment for several confounders in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: This is one of the few available studies supporting evidence that COVID-19 infection may be associated with diverse sociodemographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors in an older adults’ population in Greece. This study highlights the strong demand to provide psychological and nutritional counselling and support to older adults diagnosed with COVID-19 infection in order to ameliorate disease symptoms and severity, emphasizing the adaptation of healthy dietary and lifestyle habits as preventing and supplementary therapeutic factors against COVID-19.

Published in Diseases

ISSN: 2079-9721 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Medicine
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/diseases

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