COVID-19 FEAR AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE OF OLDER ADULTS: EVIDENCE FROM IRAN

Background: SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly, infecting people around the globe including the Iranian population. Among those infected, the highest percentage in infection prevalence was amongstthose aged 60 years and older. The aim of the study was to examine Covid-19 fear and health-related quality of life in older adults. Material/Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of 205 elderly froman Iranian province.The research data were collected through an online questionnaire consisting of three parts: Personal Information Form, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCS), and the World Health Organization Life Quality Scale-Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF).An independent two-group t-test (Student's t-test), and one-way ANOVA test were used to compare the means of the respec tive groups. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the level of correlation between two independent continuous variables. This data was analyzed using LISREL through confirmatory factor analysis. Results: In total, 205 elderly people responded. Participants (n=205) were in the age range of 60-87 with an average age of 67 +/- 6.83 years in men and 60-92 with an average age of 66 +/- 6.60 in women.The mean score was obtained for FCS19.5 +/- 6.6, the mean score was obtained for the WHOQOL-BREF 61.2 +/- 19.3. The mean score of FCS in men (20.4 +/- 6.3) was significantly higher than the mean score in women (18.3 +/- 6.7) (p=0.023). It was found that there were very weak but significant inverse correlations between FCS and the WHOQOL-BREF (r=-0.22; p=0.001). Conclusions: In conclusion, it was found that fear of COVID-19 was below the medium level, while their WHOQOL-BREF was above the medium level.Finally, we also found that, as the score from FCS increased, the scores obtained from WHOQOL-BREF decreased.