Koizumi Saori, Ohta Akiko, Kamei Midori
Division of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saitama Medical University, 38 Morohongo Moroyama-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama 350-0495, Japan.
Prev Med Rep. 2024 Feb 5;39:102640. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2024.102640. eCollection 2024 Mar.
Being homebound is a phenomenon of confining older adults to their homes owing to health, social, and psychological factors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people were requested to refrain from going out to prevent infection. Consequently, the homebound status of older adults was influenced by social and environmental factors, resulting in an increase in the number of homebound older adults during the pandemic. This study aimed to determine the homebound prevalence and related factors among homebound older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, a cross-sectional study conducted in rural Saitama, Japan, included 1,020 participants aged 65 years and above who did not have long-term care insurance certification and were independent in instrumental activities of daily living. Herein, homebound individuals were defined as those who went out once a week or less. The relationships of homebound status with demographic, health, social, and psychological factors in older adults were examined. The prevalence of homebound independent older adults was estimated as 10.4 % (6.6 % males, 13.8 % females). Homebound status was significantly associated with one or more medical histories (odds ratio [OR] = 1.98, 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.00-3.90), no social or family roles (OR = 1.95, 95 % CI = 1.09-3.48), and no hobbies (OR = 1.84, 95 % CI = 1.02-3.34). Establishing social or family roles and promoting participation in hobbies may prevent older adults from being homebound. The social environment, which changed during the pandemic, should be improved to encourage older adults to go out.
居家不出是一种由于健康、社会和心理因素而将老年人限制在家中的现象。在新冠疫情期间，人们被要求避免外出以预防感染。因此，老年人的居家不出状态受到社会和环境因素的影响，导致疫情期间居家不出的老年人数量增加。本研究旨在确定新冠疫情期间居家不出老年人的居家不出患病率及相关因素。2021年，在日本埼玉县农村进行的一项横断面研究纳入了1020名65岁及以上且没有长期护理保险认证且在日常生活工具性活动中具有自理能力的参与者。在此，居家不出个体被定义为每周外出一次或更少的人。研究了老年人居家不出状态与人口统计学、健康、社会和心理因素之间的关系。居家不出的自理老年人患病率估计为10.4%（男性为6.6%，女性为13.8%）。居家不出状态与一种或多种病史（比值比[OR]=1.98，95%置信区间[CI]=1.00-3.90）、没有社会或家庭角色（OR=1.95，95%CI=1.09-3.48）以及没有爱好（OR=1.84，95%CI=1.02-3.34）显著相关。建立社会或家庭角色并促进参与爱好可能会防止老年人居家不出。应改善疫情期间发生变化的社会环境，以鼓励老年人外出。
