Cambios en los comportamientos de salud, salud mental y física entre los adultos mayores bajo severas restricciones de confinamiento durante la pandemia de COVID-19 en España

We used data from 3041 participants in four cohorts of community-dwelling individuals aged ≥65 years in Spain collected through a pre-pandemic face-to-face interview and a telephone interview conducted between weeks 7 to 15 after the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. On average, the confinement was not associated with a deterioration in lifestyle risk factors (smoking, alcohol intake, diet, or weight), except for a decreased physical activity and increased sedentary time, which reversed with the end of confinement. However, chronic pain worsened, and moderate declines in mental health, that did not seem to reverse after restrictions were lifted, were observed. Males, older adults with greater social isolation or greater feelings of loneliness, those with poorer housing conditions, as well as those with a higher prevalence of chronic morbidities were at increased risk of developing unhealthier lifestyles or mental health declines with confinement. On the other hand, previously having a greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet and doing more physical activity protected older adults from developing unhealthier lifestyles with confinement. If another lockdown were imposed during this or future pandemics, public health programs should specially address the needs of older individuals with male sex, greater social isolation, sub-optimal housing conditions, and chronic morbidities because of their greater vulnerability to the enacted movement restrictionsThe Seniors-ENRICA-2 study was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain), State Secretary of R+D+I and FEDER/FSE research grants PI16/609, PI18/287, and 19/319; CIBERESP (16/01); and Cátedra de Epidemiología y Control del Riesgo Cardiovascular at UAM (#820024). ELS was supported by a Juan de la Cierva Contract from the Ministy of Universities. DMG and MSP were supported by supported by a “Ramon y Cajal”contract. Edad con Salud was funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (grant number 223071-COURAGE Study); the Insti tuto de Salud Carlos III (grants number PS09/00295(JMH), PS09/01845 (JLA), PI12/01490 (JMH), PI13/00059 (JLA), PI16/00212 (JMH), PI16/00218 (MM), PI16/01073 (JLA)); the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) “A Way to Build Europe” (grant numbers PI12/01490, PI13/00059, PI16/00212 and PI16/01073);and CIBERSAM. EL was supported by the Sara Borrell postdoctoral programme (CD18/00099) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by the European Union (FEDER/FSE, “Investing in your future”). BO was supported by the Miguel Servet programme (reference CP20/00040), funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-funded by European Union (ERDF/ESF, "Investing in your future"). The Toledo Study for Healthy Ageing was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, cofinanced by FEDER (RD120001/0043), CIBERFES (CB16/10/00464) and DIABFRAIL-LATAM (contract number 825546, Horizon 2020). The Elderly EXERNET multicenter study was supported by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (DEP2016-78309-R (GVR)), the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Red EXERNET DEP2005-00046 JAC)), the High Council of Sports (Consejo Superior de Deportes) of the Ministe rio de Cultura y Deportes (09/UPB/19 (JAC) and 45/UPB/20 (JAC)), CIBERFES, the 4IE+ project (0499_4IE_PLUS_4_E (NG)) funded by the Interreg V-A España-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 pro gram, and FEDER funds from the European Union (CB16/10/00477 (IA)). The funding agencies had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, interpretation of results, manuscript preparation or the decision to submit this manuscript for publicatio