Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing measures were imposed to protect the population from exposure, especially older adults and people with frailty, who have the highest risk for severe outcomes. These restrictions greatly reduced contacts in the general population, bu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-09-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16725-1 |
| _version_ | 1797451183258861568 |
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| author | Jantien A. Backer Jan van de Kassteele Fatima El Fakiri Niel Hens Jacco Wallinga |
| author_facet | Jantien A. Backer Jan van de Kassteele Fatima El Fakiri Niel Hens Jacco Wallinga |
| author_sort | Jantien A. Backer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing measures were imposed to protect the population from exposure, especially older adults and people with frailty, who have the highest risk for severe outcomes. These restrictions greatly reduced contacts in the general population, but little was known about behaviour changes among older adults and people with frailty themselves. Our aim was to quantify how COVID-19 measures affected the contact behaviour of older adults and how this differed between older adults with and without frailty. Methods In 2021, a contact survey was carried out among people aged 70 years and older in the Netherlands. A random sample of persons per age group (70–74, 75–79, 80–84, 85–89, and 90 +) and gender was invited to participate, either during a period with stringent (April 2021) or moderate (October 2021) measures. Participants provided general information on themselves, including their frailty, and they reported characteristics of all persons with whom they had face-to-face contact on a given day over the course of a full week. Results In total, 720 community-dwelling older adults were included (overall response rate of 15%), who reported 16,505 contacts. During the survey period with moderate measures, participants without frailty had significantly more contacts outside their household than participants with frailty. Especially for females, frailty was a more informative predictor of the number of contacts than age. During the survey period with stringent measures, participants with and without frailty had significantly lower numbers of contacts compared to the survey period with moderate measures. The reduction of the number of contacts was largest for the eldest participants without frailty. As they interact mostly with adults of a similar high age who are likely frail, this reduction of the number of contacts indirectly protects older adults with frailty from SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Conclusions The results of this study reveal that social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic differentially affected the contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty. The reduction of contacts may have led to the direct protection of older adults in general but also to the indirect protection of older adults with frailty. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:51:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-396c9ebaf3ed4df0a02e0bbf22aa4c71 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:51:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-396c9ebaf3ed4df0a02e0bbf22aa4c712023-11-26T14:28:37ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582023-09-0123111210.1186/s12889-023-16725-1Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemicJantien A. Backer0Jan van de Kassteele1Fatima El Fakiri2Niel Hens3Jacco Wallinga4National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD)UHasselt, Data Science Institute and I-BioStatNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing measures were imposed to protect the population from exposure, especially older adults and people with frailty, who have the highest risk for severe outcomes. These restrictions greatly reduced contacts in the general population, but little was known about behaviour changes among older adults and people with frailty themselves. Our aim was to quantify how COVID-19 measures affected the contact behaviour of older adults and how this differed between older adults with and without frailty. Methods In 2021, a contact survey was carried out among people aged 70 years and older in the Netherlands. A random sample of persons per age group (70–74, 75–79, 80–84, 85–89, and 90 +) and gender was invited to participate, either during a period with stringent (April 2021) or moderate (October 2021) measures. Participants provided general information on themselves, including their frailty, and they reported characteristics of all persons with whom they had face-to-face contact on a given day over the course of a full week. Results In total, 720 community-dwelling older adults were included (overall response rate of 15%), who reported 16,505 contacts. During the survey period with moderate measures, participants without frailty had significantly more contacts outside their household than participants with frailty. Especially for females, frailty was a more informative predictor of the number of contacts than age. During the survey period with stringent measures, participants with and without frailty had significantly lower numbers of contacts compared to the survey period with moderate measures. The reduction of the number of contacts was largest for the eldest participants without frailty. As they interact mostly with adults of a similar high age who are likely frail, this reduction of the number of contacts indirectly protects older adults with frailty from SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Conclusions The results of this study reveal that social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic differentially affected the contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty. The reduction of contacts may have led to the direct protection of older adults in general but also to the indirect protection of older adults with frailty.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16725-1Contact surveyOlder adultsFrailtyBehaviour changeCOVID-19 pandemicControl measures |
| spellingShingle | Jantien A. Backer Jan van de Kassteele Fatima El Fakiri Niel Hens Jacco Wallinga Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic BMC Public Health Contact survey Older adults Frailty Behaviour change COVID-19 pandemic Control measures |
| title | Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | contact patterns of older adults with and without frailty in the netherlands during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | Contact survey Older adults Frailty Behaviour change COVID-19 pandemic Control measures |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16725-1 |
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