Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Exacerbation of Depressive Symptoms for Social Frailty from the ORANGE Registry

Background: Recent longitudinal studies have reported proportion of frailty transition in older individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study aimed at clarifying the impact of social frailty in community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and at identifying factors that can predict transition to social frailty. Methods: We performed this study from 2019 (before declaration of the state of emergency over the rising number of COVID-19 cases) to 2020 (after declaration of the emergency). We applied Makizako’s social frail index to our study subjects at the baseline and classified into robust, social prefrailty, and social frailty groups. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed using robust, social prefrailty, or social frailty status as dependent variable. Results: Analysis by the Kruskal–Wallis test revealed significant differences in the score on the GDS-15 among the robust, social prefrailty, and social frailty groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, multiple regression analysis identified a significant association between the social frailty status and the score on GDS-15 (odds ratio, 1.57; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.15–2.13; p = 0.001). Conclusion: The increase in the rate of transition of elderly individuals to the social frailty group could have been related to the implementation of the stay-at-home order as part of the countermeasures for COVID-19. Furthermore, the increased prevalence of depressive symptoms associated with the stay-at-home order could also have influenced the increase in the prevalence of social frailty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental, Physical and Socio-Economic Status of Adults Living in Spain during the Late Stages of the State of Emergency Caused by COVID-19

Research has shown that the confinement measures implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 can have negative effects on people’s lives at multiple levels. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to better understand the mental, physical, and socio-economic status of adults living in Spain during the late stages of the state of emergency caused by COVID-19. Five hundred and forty-four individuals responded to an online survey between 3 June and 30 July 2020. They were asked to report data about their mental and physical health, financial situation, and satisfaction with the information received about the pandemic. Means, percentages, t-test, ANOVAs, and logistic regressions were computed. A third of the participants reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, and worries about their health and the future. Participants also described mild levels of fatigue and pain during lockdown (66%), and a reduction in household income (39%). Respondents that were female, younger, single, and with lower levels of education reported experiencing a greater impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data showed that the negative effects of lockdown were present in the late stages of the state of emergency. The findings can be used to contribute to the development of programs to prevent or mitigate the negative impact of confinement measures.

Information and Communication – The Limits of Media Discourse. Case Study – Romanian School in the News

In this study we propose an analysis of the media discourse on education. This paper is based on questions such as: in what manner is the media an echo for the public policy authors, for the dominant ideology, and what are the stories featuring the school topic. Using the content analysis, we aimed to find the narrative frames, and a map of the most cited journalistic sources. We found that the media is a very important source for public agenda. In fact, the media is one of the most powerful public and social policy agents. Our analysis covers the journalistic discourse in Romania for a period of one year, from the moment of declaring the state of emergency. One of the hypotheses was that the type of journalistic discourse under analysis is specific to crisis communication. Regarding the corpus of texts, we selected a publication where there are published only features on education, edupedu.ro, a quality publication with stories from different fields, including education, libertatea.ro, and a soft publication, kanald.ro. The texts were analysed from a multidisciplinary perspective, in order to define and describe a narrative pattern. One of our main findings is this fear of contaminating the quality press with false information. And, as a consequence, we have found a journalistic conformism and a lake of creativity and new approaches, respectively assuming a role of facilitating the information, of carrier, rather than of a watchdog.

Potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on japanese patients with eating disorders -a cross-sectional study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown had a considerable impact on eating disorders (EDs). We evaluated the clinical features of Japanese ED patients before and after the first COVID-19 outbreak-related state of emergency (April 7, 2020). Methods We studied 148 patients who were divided into two groups based on when they arrived at our clinic: before (Before group: n = 86) or after (After group: n = 62) the start of the first state of emergency. All patients completed the Japanese versions of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Results The After group was substantially younger than the Before group (p = .0187). Regardless of the ED type, patients who developed an ED during the first state of emergency tended to be significantly younger than those who developed one before. Differences in EDI characteristics were observed between the two groups. The PBI care subscale was notably higher (p = .0177) in the After group. The PBI maternal care subscale was the only statistically significant factor associated with age (β = -0.35, p < .0001). Conclusions Home confinement associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing increase in parent-child closeness may have influenced the decreased age of ED patients at their initial consultation. Treatment interventions should consider the differences in the clinical features of EDs.

COVID-19

In December 2019, the world saw the appearance of a severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS-CoV-2, in Wuhan. The virus originated in bats and was transmitted to humans. The number of cases started increasing exponentially. According to the World Health Organization, the massive migration of Chinese during the Chinese New Year fuelled the epidemic. Cases in other provinces of China, other countries (Thailand, Japan, and South Korea in quick succession) were reported in people who were returning from Wuhan. After two months, the World Health Organization reclassified this virus as a pandemic. This virus caused a great danger in the world; most countries declared a state of emergency and implemented quarantine in order to stop the spreading of the virus. We don't yet have an effective medicine against this virus. More than 155 million people are now infected with COVID-19 and more than three million people have died. This chapter will discuss the history and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Socio-psychological profile of Latvian inhabitants who did not comply with the COVID-19 epidemiological requirements

Since the beginning of 2020, the world has been affected by the corona virus COVID-19. Since the spring, a number of nations around the world, including Latvia, have declared a state of emergency, with specific government restrictions developed in cooperation with WHO, to reduce spread of the COVID-19. The aim of this study is to examine socio-psychological profile of Latvian inhabitants who did not comply with the COVID-19 epidemiological requirements. A randomized nationally representative sample (N = 2608, aged from 18–74, men 39.8%, women 60.2%) from the online survey, carried out in the frame of the National research program, project Nr. VPP-COVID-2020/1-0011, was used in this study. The results showed that less compliant with COVID-19 epidemiological requirements were males, rural inhabitants, persons aged less than 60 years old, unemployed, with lower education level, and those, who are less afraid of COVID-19 and think that its dangerousness is exaggerated. Compliance with the restrictions did not relate to the marital and parental status. Based on this study, policy suggestions were made regarding a more targeted way of the providing important information on the preventive behaviour to reduce the spread of the virus.