Mental Disease and Healthcare Disruption in Older Ages during COVID-19: Do Family Ties Play a Cushioning Role?

Hequn Wang , UCLouvain
Ester Lucia Rizzi, UCLouvain
Ashira Menashe-Oren, Tel Aviv University
Anja Leist, Univerisity of Luxembourg

Old people with chronic conditions were particularly vulnerable during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, being at higher risk of serious infection and with generally greater healthcare needs. This study analyses the extent to which healthcare among old people with chronic diseases was disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first study to investigate the role of family ties in influencing healthcare disruption across Europe, and to differentiate between mental health and other chronic diseases. We expect that old people with mental diseases experienced greater healthcare disruption, compared to those with other chronic diseases, and that strong family ties mitigated the differences among the two groups. We utilise longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe from 2019 to 2021 and employ random effects models with gender-stratified analyses across 26 European countries. Overall, a substantial proportion of older Europeans (aged 50+) with chronic diseases experienced healthcare disruption, observed in both early and later stages of the pandemic. Disruption was more prominent among individuals with mental diseases, especially women. The divergence in healthcare disruption between individuals with mental and other diseases diminished when considering those with strong ties to children. In contrast, with strong ties to the spouse, those with mental disease were particularly more likely to experience healthcare disruption. Our results shed light on the mixed roles of family ties in healthcare utilisation during a crisis like the pandemic, contributing to promoting mental health and well-being in older ages.

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 Presented in Session 31. Flash Session Family Relationships, Social Networks, Health and Wellbeing in Later Life