Pandemic-Induced Occupational Disruption and Association With Health in Japanese Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Jun-Ichi Uemura; Kohei Uno; Aiko Hoshino; Tatsuhiko Sano; Miki Tanikaga; Masahiro Tanaka; Junpei Mizuno

doi:10.1177/15394492231215515

Pandemic-Induced Occupational Disruption and Association With Health in Japanese Community-Dwelling Older Adults

OTJR (Thorofare N J). 2023 Dec 7:15394492231215515. doi: 10.1177/15394492231215515. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jun-Ichi Uemura¹, Kohei Uno¹, Aiko Hoshino¹, Tatsuhiko Sano¹, Miki Tanikaga², Masahiro Tanaka³, Junpei Mizuno⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrated Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Japan.
² Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Life Health Sciences, Chubu University, Nagoya, Japan.
³ Department of Rehabilitation, Nihon Fukushi University, Handa, Japan.
⁴ Graduate school of human and environmental studies, Kyoto University, Japan.

PMID: 38059483
DOI: 10.1177/15394492231215515

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused occupational disruption and adverse health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. This study aimed to investigate the extent of occupational disruption in older adults and its relationship to health-related quality of life (QOL), depression, and frailty. In this cross-sectional study, retention rates in four activity domains and relationships with health outcomes were examined in Japanese older adults aged ≥65 years (n=163) using canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and mixed linear models. More than 25% of activities were restricted compared with the pre-pandemic period. CCA demonstrated correlations between four retention rates and health outcomes (canonical correlation = .42, p = .0003). Retention in instrumental and social activities independently predicted QOL and depression (p < .05). This study highlights that different activities may have different effects on health outcomes and can provide community occupational therapy practitioners with a perspective to assess occupational disruption and identify activities for intervention.

Keywords: communities; health-related quality of life; occupational deprivation; older adults; public health.

Plain language summary

Pandemic-Induced Changes of Daily Routine and Its Association with Health for Japanese Older AdultsWe investigated the changes in daily activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic among community-dwelling older adults in Japan and examined their association with health outcomes. The results showed that more than 25% of activity was reduced due to the pandemic. There was a moderate association between changes in activity and physical, mental, and subjective health. Especially, instrumental and social activities were strongly associated with mental and subjective health. This study highlights the possibility that different types of activities may have different effects on health. Our study can provide occupational therapy practitioners supporting community-dwelling older adults with a perspective to assess changes in daily activities due to the pandemic and identify activities to target for future intervention. As this study was conducted at a single point in time, future studies should be conducted at multiple points in time.