The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Older Women in the Women's Health Initiative.

BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a health crisis of which older adults are a high-risk group for severe illness and mortality. The objectives of this article are to describe the methods and responses to a COVID-19 survey administered by the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) to assess the impact of the pandemic on older women.

METHODS

WHI is an ongoing prospective cohort study that recruited 161 808 postmenopausal women from 1993 to 1998. From June 2020 to October 2020, participants in active follow-up were surveyed by mail, phone, or online to assess health and well-being, living situations, lifestyle, health care, and self-reported COVID-19 testing, treatment, and preventive behaviors.

RESULTS

Of 64 061 eligible participants, 49 695 (average age 83.6 years ± 5.6) completed the COVID-19 survey (response rate 77.6%). Many participants reported very good or good well-being (75.6%). Respondents reported being very concerned about the pandemic (51.1%; more common in urban compared to rural areas), with 6.9% reporting disruptions in living arrangements and 9.7% reporting changes in medication access. Participants (54.4%) reported physical activity levels were much less or somewhat less compared to levels before the pandemic, and this was more pronounced in urban areas versus rural areas (55.3% vs 44.4%). Participants engaged in preventive behaviors including wearing a face mask (93.2%). A total of 18.9% reported testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), among whom 3.5% (n = 311) reported testing positive.

CONCLUSIONS

In this nationwide survey of older U.S. women, the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with impacts on health and well-being, living situations, lifestyle, health care access, and SARS-CoV-2 testing and preventive behaviors.