TILDA data reveal sharp increase in clinically significant symptoms of depression in older Irish adults during COVID-19 pandemic

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is an ongoing, population-based longitudinal study meant to collect data to inform appropriate health, medical, social and economic policies for the older adults of Ireland. It is one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, given the breadth of physical, biological, mental health and cognitive measures it collects. TILDA’s baseline interviews of 8,504 participants took place between 2009 and 2011. ICPSR distributes the study’s public-use data, and in March released the fourth wave (2016) and will release the fifth wave (2018) this month. ICPSR also just released the TILDA COVID-19 Study (2020), which was conducted in response to the pandemic during the time when sixth wave fieldwork was originally scheduled. For this study, participants aged 60 and above completed questionnaires to capture their experiences during the first few months of the pandemic. In addition to information on changes to normal daily activities due to social distancing and other restrictions on social interactions, the TILDA researchers wanted to examine how these changes to peoples’ lives affected their physical and mental wellbeing. The study also records peoples’ exposure to the virus as well as that of their families and friends.

Since the collection of these data, TILDA team members have been publishing findings on the impact of the pandemic on the elderly. For instance, in their JAMDA article, TILDA researchers Briggs et al. used these data in conjunction with data collected in the fourth and fifth waves to analyze depressive symptoms in over 3,000 TILDA participants over age 60. These symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Briggs et al. found a sharp increase in the prevalence of clinically significant depressive symptoms among middle aged and older adults during the pandemic compared with the years prior. And adults over 70 and those living alone were most adversely affected. According to the authors, “even a small increase in the incidence of late life depression can have major implications for health care systems and societies in general.” To determine if the pandemic’s impact on depressive symptoms persists over time, the authors planned to evaluate the future CES-D scores from the same cohort.