School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.
Department of Public Health and Policy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jan 12;10:1064677. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1064677. eCollection 2022.
Public health mitigation policies aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 led to an increase in mental health problems (MHPs). This study examines the association between multiple pre-pandemic health behaviors and MHPs prior to, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic.
We analyzed a representative population sample of 11,256 adults (aged 20-65 years) from Understanding Society-The UK Household Longitudinal Study. Baseline data from participants interviewed in 2017/2019 (wave 9) were linked to web surveys conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify mutually exclusive health behavior (physical activity, alcohol consumption, eating habits and smoking tobacco) clusters by gender, and examined the sociodemographic correlates of each cluster. We assessed how pre-pandemic latent classes of health behaviors were associated with changes in MHPs during the pandemic using fixed effects regression models.
Three health behavior clusters were identified: positive (33%), moderate (24%), and high risk (43%), where similar behaviors clustered within individuals and sociodemographic circumstances. In particular, gender, age, migrant status and ethnicity were found to have strong associations with each cluster. Our results also demonstrated a clear association in MHPs with health behaviors both prior to, and during the pandemic. There were significant increases in MHPs between 2017/2019 and January 2021, with fluctuations coinciding with changes in public health mitigation policies. Assessments across the three clusters showed about 25.2%, 16.9%, and 0.7% increases in MHPs in the positive, moderate and high risk health behavior clusters, respectively.
This study shows that pre-pandemic health behaviors were significantly associated with mental health before and during the pandemic. Holistic policy interventions and promotions targeting multiple health behaviors may be an effective strategy to improve mental health in the pandemic recovery period.
旨在减缓 COVID-19 传播的公共卫生缓解政策导致心理健康问题（MHP）增加。本研究调查了 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间，多种大流行前健康行为与 MHP 之间的关联。
我们分析了来自英国社会调查（UK Household Longitudinal Study）的 11256 名 20-65 岁成年人的代表性人群样本。对 2017/2019 年（第 9 波）接受访谈的参与者进行了基线数据分析，并与 COVID-19 大流行期间进行的网络调查进行了链接。我们使用潜在类别分析（LCA）按性别确定相互排斥的健康行为（体育活动、饮酒、饮食习惯和吸烟）聚类，并检查了每个聚类的社会人口统计学相关性。我们使用固定效应回归模型评估了大流行前的健康行为潜在类别如何与大流行期间 MHP 的变化相关。
确定了三种健康行为聚类：积极（33%）、中度（24%）和高风险（43%），其中类似的行为在个体和社会人口统计学环境中聚类。特别是，性别、年龄、移民身份和族裔与每个聚类都有很强的关联。我们的研究结果还表明，MHP 与大流行前和大流行期间的健康行为之间存在明显的关联。从 2017/2019 年到 2021 年 1 月，MHP 显著增加，波动与公共卫生缓解政策的变化一致。对三个聚类的评估显示，在积极、中度和高风险健康行为聚类中，MHP 分别增加了约 25.2%、16.9%和 0.7%。
本研究表明，大流行前的健康行为与大流行前和大流行期间的心理健康显著相关。针对多种健康行为的整体政策干预和推广可能是改善大流行后恢复期心理健康的有效策略。
