JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The present article derives from an international multicenter study which is still under development entitled “COVID-19 infodemic and its repercussions on the mental health of the elderly during and postpandemic: A multicenter study Brazil/Chile/Peru/Colombia/Mexico and Portugal”, which seeks to analyze the relationship between the COVID-19 infodemic and the repercussions on the mental health of elderly individuals.

Objective:

To describe the profile of exposure to information on COVID-19 and its impact on the mental health of Brazilian elderly individuals regarding screening for perceived stress and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Methods:

This was a cross-sectional, exploratory study of 3,307 elderly Brazilians. Data were collected by a web-based survey via social networks and e-mail between July 2020 and March 2021. Descriptive analysis and bivariate analysis were performed to estimate associations of interest.

Results:

The largest share of the elderly participants were in the age group of 60 to 64 years (38.9%) and were female (68.4%), married (55.5%), self-identified as white (71.5%) and only 8.9% did not study or did not complete basic education. To access information about COVID-19, 81.1% used television, and 58.8% used social networks. Regarding the hours of exposure, 39.3% of the elderly were exposed to television for three hours or more, 32.8% accessed social networks for two to five hours and 37.0% were exposed to the radio for one hour or more. A significant association was found between perceived stress and the frequency of exposure to social networks (p = 0.04) and between Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and exposure to social networks (p = 0.01). The Bonferroni post hoc test revealed that the groups in mean stress score were exposed to social networks for one hour (p = 0.04) and those who had no exposure to social networks (p = 0.04). In the linear and logistic regression analyses, the frequency and hours of exposure to the networks were associated with screening for perceived stress and GAD

Conclusions:

Excess information can affect the mental health of elderly individuals, causing feelings of stress and anxiety, which impact their quality of life. The management of informational excess should be a subject of debate in public health. The importance of public health policies on infodemic management, which promote social education for the elderly on how to seek and interpret information, is also emphasized. Clinical Trial: The study was approved by the Brazilian National Research Ethics Committee (Comissão Nacional de Ética em Pesquisa-CONEP) of Brazil on 03/07/2020-CAAE: 31932620.1.1001.5147, under opinion no. 4.134.050.