Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vpsfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T16:52:58.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assessment of anxiety related to Covid-19 in the elderly in Tunisia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

M. Moalla ,
R. Lansari ,
R. Saida ,
E. Bergaoui ,
A. Larnaout  and
W. Melki
M. Moalla*
Affiliation:
Razi Hospital, Psychiatry D, Manouba, Tunisia
R. Lansari
Affiliation:
Razi Hospital, Psychiatry D, Manouba, Tunisia
R. Saida
Affiliation:
Razi Hospital, Psychiatry D, Manouba, Tunisia
E. Bergaoui
Affiliation:
Razi Hospital, Psychiatry D, Manouba, Tunisia
A. Larnaout
Affiliation:
Razi Hospital, Psychiatry D, Manouba, Tunisia
W. Melki
Affiliation:
Razi Hospital, Psychiatry D, Manouba, Tunisia
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has several risks particularly in the elderly, such a high death rate and severe forms.The risk also involves significant psychological distress especially anxiety.

Objectives

Assessment of anxiety symptoms due to COVID 19 in elderly subjects in Tunisia.

Methods

A cross-sectional descriptive study on a sample of 50 people aged between 65 and over. Data was collected using a questionnaire and a COVID Anxiety Rating Scale “Fear of COVID-19 Scale”.

Results

We found that most subjects agreed or strongly agreed that they were afraid of Corona and that 54% agreed or strongly agreed that they felt uncomfortable thinking about the Corona. Physical symptoms like having sweaty hands, or having palpitations related to the fear of having the disease were reported by 24% of the subjects. Almost half of the respondents (46%) were afraid of losing their lives due to Corona. Most subjects (66%) reported that they became nervous or anxious when viewing information posted on social media on Corona. Insomnia related to worries about having COVID was reported in 12% of subjects. We were able to retain that most of the subjects (68%) had a mild level of anxiety and that 30% of the subjects had a moderate level. No subject had severe anxiety.

Conclusions

Low to moderate level of fear due to the COVID 19 pandemic was observed among Tunisian elderly according to this study. This leads us to conclude that assessment of anxiety particularly in seniors should be more systematic.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

AnxietyCovid-19ElderlyAssessment
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S306
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.