Age Distribution

BackgroundThe spread of COVID-19 along with strict public health measures have resulted in unintended adverse effects, including greater levels of distress, anxiety, and depression. This study examined relative presentations of these psychopathologies in different age groups in a Canadian cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodologyParticipants were subscribers to the Text4Hope program, developed to support Albertans during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey link was used to gather demographic information and responses on several self-report scales, such as Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9).ResultsThere were 8267 individuals who completed the survey, giving a response rate of 19.4%. Overall, 909 (11.0%) respondents identified as ≤25 years, 2939 (35.6%) identified as (26-40) years, 3431 (41.5%) identified as (41-60) years, 762 (9.2%) identified as over 60 years, and 226 (2.7%) did not identify their age. Mean scores on the PSS, GAD-7, and PHQ-9 scales were highest among those aged ≤25 and lowest amongst those aged >60 years old.ConclusionsThe finding that the prevalence rates and the mean scores for stress, anxiety, and depression on standardized scales to decrease from younger to older subscribers is an interesting observation with potential implications for planning to meet mental health service needs during COVID-19.

Three months since the detection of the first COVID-19 case in Africa, almost all countries of the continent continued to report lower morbidity and mortality than the global trend, including Europe and North America. We reviewed the merits of various hypotheses advanced to explain this phenomenon, including low seeding rate, effective mitigation measures, population that is more youthful, favorable weather, and possible prior exposure to a cross-reactive virus. Having a youthful population and favorable weather appears compelling, particularly their combined effect; however, progression of the pandemic in the region and globally may dispel these in the coming months.

BackgroundHealth literacy is of increasing importance in public health research. It is a necessary pre-condition for the involvement in decisions about health and health care and related to health outcomes. Knowledge about limited health literacy in different age groups is crucial to better target public health interventions for subgroups of the population. However, little is known about health literacy in Germany. The study therefore assesses the prevalence of limited health literacy and associated factors among different age groups.MethodsThe Health Literacy Survey Germany is a cross-sectional study with 2,000 participants aged 15 years or older in private households. Perceived health literacy was assessed via computer-assisted personal interviews using the HLS-EU-Q-47 questionnaire. Descriptive analyses, chi-square tests and odds ratios were performed stratified for different age groups.ResultsThe population affected by limited perceived health literacy increases by age. Of the respondents aged 15-29 years, 47.3 % had limited perceived health literacy and 47.2 % of those aged 30-45 years, whereas 55.2 % of the respondents aged 46-64 years and 66.4 % aged 65 years and older showed limited perceived health literacy. In all age groups, limited perceived health literacy was associated with limited functional health literacy, low social status, and a high frequency of doctor visits.ConclusionsThe results suggest a need to further investigate perceived health literacy in all phases of the life-course. Particular attention should be devoted to persons with lower social status, limited functional health literacy and/or a high number of doctor visits in all age groups.

In demographic research, the accuracy of the reported ages in surveys and censuses is a persistently important issue. The common indices developed and used to examine the quality of age data are Whipple, Myers, Bachi's, modified Whipple, and the total modified Whipple's index. The most commonly used and simplest to compute index is the original Whipple's index proposed by George Chandler Whipple. It is a summary measure used to check age heaping on ages ending with digits 0 and 5. The other summary index is the total modified Whipple index by Spoorenberg. A robust modification is proposed for the total modified Whipple index. This modification, based on the method of the original Whipple index for all digits (0, 1, 2 … 9), is simple, robust, and easy to interpret. The proposed index is used to check the quality of age data from the Demographic and Health Survey data series of three countries (India, Pakistan, and Turkey). The original Whipple index only measures the preferences or avoidances of ages ending in digits 0 and 5. The existing summary index total modified Whipple index, based on modified Whipple indexes, covers all ages; however, results showed that the digit indexes for the terminal digits 1, 2, 3 and 4 have some added probability of being included. The newly proposed summary index, Robust Modified Whipple Index, is based on Rogers Whipple indexes, which display an equal probability for all ten digits i = 1,2,3…,9. In the application to the series of datasets, the proposed index is found better and more robust. The comparison of the results of the total modified Whipple index and proposed robust modified Whipple index concludes that the proposed modification is a more precise and robust to measure age misreporting by taking the effects of all terminal digits of reported ages. The proposed modification is suitable for the evaluation of the quality of self reported and interviewer recorded ages at the time of surveys and censuses.