Venu Geriatric Care Centre, Venu Charitable Society, Sheikh Sarai, New Delhi, 110017, India.
Centre for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Feb 9;23(1):292. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15084-1.
The coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic caused disruption globally and was particularly distressing in low- and middle-income countries such as India. This study aimed to provide population representative estimates of COVID-related outcomes in India over time and characterize how COVID-related changes and impacts differ by key socioeconomic groups across the life course.
The sample was leveraged from an existing nationally representative study on cognition and dementia in India: Harmonized Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI-DAD). The wave-1 of LASI-DAD enrolled 4096 older adults aged 60 years and older in 3316 households from 18 states and union territories of India. Out of the 3316 LASI-DAD households, 2704 with valid phone numbers were contacted and invited to participate in the Real-Time Insights COVID-19 in India (RTI COVID-India) study. RTI COVID-India was a bi-monthly phone survey that provided insight into the individual's knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour towards COVID-19 and changes in the household's economic and health conditions throughout the pandemic. The survey was started in May 2020 and 9 rounds of data have been collected.
Out of the 2704 LASI-DAD households with valid phone numbers, 1766 households participated in the RTI COVID-India survey at least once. Participants were in the age range of 18-102 years, 49% were female, 66% resided in rural area. Across all rounds, there was a higher report of infection among respondents aged 60-69 years. There was a greater prevalence of COVID-19 diagnosis reported in urban (23.0%) compared to rural areas (9.8%). Respondents with higher education had a greater prevalence of COVID-19 diagnosis compared to those with lower or no formal education. Highest prevalence of COVID-19 diagnosis was reported from high economic status compared to middle and low economic status households. Comparing education gradients in experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and being diagnosed, we observe an opposite pattern: respondents with no formal schooling reported the highest level of experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, whereas the greatest proportion of the respondents with secondary school or higher education reported being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The study group will analyse the data collected showing the real-time changes throughout the pandemic and will make the data widely available for researchers to conduct further studies.
冠状病毒病（COVID）大流行在全球范围内造成了混乱，对印度等中低收入国家尤其令人痛苦。本研究旨在提供一段时间内印度 COVID 相关结果的人口代表性估计，并描述 COVID 相关变化和影响如何因整个生命周期的关键社会经济群体而有所不同。
该样本来自印度认知和痴呆症的一项现有全国代表性研究：印度纵向老龄化研究的认知诊断评估（LASI-DAD）。LASI-DAD 的第 1 波招募了来自印度 18 个邦和联邦属地的 3316 个家庭的 4096 名 60 岁及以上的老年人。在 3316 个 LASI-DAD 家庭中，有 2704 个家庭拥有有效的电话号码，这些家庭被联系并邀请参加印度实时洞察 COVID-19（RTI COVID-India）研究。RTI COVID-India 是一项双月电话调查，提供了有关个人对 COVID-19 的知识、态度和行为的见解，以及整个大流行期间家庭经济和健康状况的变化。该调查于 2020 年 5 月开始，已经收集了 9 轮数据。
在拥有有效电话号码的 2704 个 LASI-DAD 家庭中，有 1766 个家庭至少参加了一次 RTI COVID-India 调查。参与者的年龄在 18-102 岁之间，49%为女性，66%居住在农村地区。在所有轮次中，60-69 岁的受访者报告的感染率更高。城市（23.0%）的 COVID-19 诊断报告率高于农村地区（9.8%）。受教育程度较高的受访者的 COVID-19 诊断报告率高于受教育程度较低或未受过正规教育的受访者。高经济地位家庭的 COVID-19 诊断报告率最高，而中低经济地位家庭则较低。比较经历 COVID-19 症状和被诊断为 COVID-19 的教育梯度，我们观察到一种相反的模式：没有正规学校教育的受访者报告了最高水平的 COVID-19 症状，而接受过中学或更高教育的受访者报告 COVID-19 诊断的比例最高。
研究小组将分析收集的数据，展示整个大流行期间的实时变化，并将数据广泛提供给研究人员，以进行进一步的研究。
