Physical Activity, Stress and Quality Of Life among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Shenzhen during the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated preventive measures resulted in a substantial disruption of daily life. To date, almost 2 years after the initial outbreak, there has been no specific investigation of the effects of COVID-19 on community-dwelling older adults. Objectives: To investigate the levels of physical activity, stress and quality of life of community-dwelling older adults 2 years after the outbreak of COVID-19, and to quantify the relative contributions of physical activity and stress to their quality of life in the post-COVID-19-pandemic period. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-four community-dwelling older adults completed an online survey comprising a sociodemographic data sheet and questionnaires including the Chinese versions of the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE-C), the Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS-10) and the European Quality of Life Questionnaire Five-Level Scale (EQ-5D-5L). Descriptive statistics, group comparisons and correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the levels of physical activity and stress and quality of life. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the relative power of the independent variables to predict the EQ-5D-5L index value. Results: When compared with a previous local study before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the level of physical activity decreased by approximately 12% in community-dwelling older adults during the post-COVID-19-pandemic period. Our final regression model predicted 51.0% of the variance in the Chinese version of the EQ-5D-5L index. Conclusion: The levels of physical activity and perceived stress were found to be significantly correlated with the quality of life of community-dwelling older adults during the post-COVID-19 period. Future studies should focus on developing and testing strategies to promote physical activity and stress management in this cohort during future pandemics.