Older age and poor health outcomes within Black communities: an assessment of risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults within Black communities in Canada, the study described self-reported health ratings before and during the pandemic, across age groups and assessed how old age contributed to adverse changes in health across three domains: physical health, mental health, and Quality of Life (QoL). Methods:The study performed a cross-sectional, secondary analysis of data from a communitybased survey of English or French-speaking Canadian Black, African, and Caribbean persons between November 2022 and May 2023. Bivariate analyses informed on age differences in selfreported physical and mental health, and QoL. Furthermore, a multivariate logistic regression model was fitted for each domain to assess the effect of age and covariates on adverse outcomes measured as any decrease in self-reported health status during the pandemic. Results: Older adults reported the highest proportion of fair physical health and smallest proportion of other levels. Approximately 66.7% of them experienced adverse changes compared to 58.3% overall. While no older adults reported very poor or poor mental health, 41.7% experienced adverse changes in their mental health compared to 56.3% overall. 75.0% of older adults reported an adverse change in their QOL compared to 66.0% overall. However, the small sample of older adults may have contributed to the lack of statistical significance in many results. Conclusion: Older Black adults appeared more likely to report worse physical health and QoL outcomes and have their mental health concerns underreported during the pandemic. This may be due to age and other risk factors related to race.