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Mental and social health in the German old age population largely unaltered during COVID-19 lockdown: results of a representative survey

Background: Older individuals are at increased risk of a severe and lethal course of COVID-19. They have typically been advised to practice particularly restrictive social distancing (‘cocooning’), which has sparked much debate on mental and social health consequences in older individuals. We aim to provide evidence. Methods: A computer-assisted standardized telephone interview was conducted in a randomly selected and representative sample of the German old age population (n = 1,005; age ≥65 years) during lockdown in April 2020. Assessments included sociodemographic factors, aspects of the personal life situation during lockdown, attitudes towards COVID-19, and standardized screening measures on depression, anxiety, somatization, posttraumatic stress, perceived stress, loneliness and social support. Sampling-weighted descriptive statistics and multiple multivariable regression analyses were conducted. Results: Participants were M = 75.5 (SD = 7.1) years old; 56.3% were women. At data collection, COVID-19 lockdown had been in force for M = 28.0 (SD = 4.8) days. Overall, older individuals were worried about COVID-19, but supportive of the lockdown. Mean scores and prevalence estimates of measured mental and social health variables were comparable to figures reported before the pandemic, except slightly higher perceived stress and higher perceived social support. There were only few significant associations of aspects of the personal life situation during lockdown and attitudes towards COVID-19 with mental and social health variables, while resilience explained a large amount of variance. Conclusions: In the short-term, the mental and social health of the German old age population was largely unaltered during COVID-19 lockdown, suggesting resilience against the challenging pandemic situation. Our results refute common ageist stereotypes of “the weak and vulnerable elderly” that were present during the pandemic. Long-term observations are needed to provide robust evidence.