Increased anxiety about falls and walking ability among community-dwelling Japanese older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background Understanding the physical and mental changes in community-dwelling elderly people is very important during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic when considering preventive measures. The purpose of this study was to clarify the changes of physical function and anxiety for activities of daily living in community-dwelling older adults, focusing on locomotor function during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The study participants were 127 older people who participated in successive surveys, in the summers of 2019 and again in 2020, after the state of emergency. The Locomo 25 questionnaire, Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) questionnaire, medical history, and number of people living together were self-reported. The Locomo 25 covers six aspects of physical pain, movement-related difficulty, usual care, daily activity, social activities, and anxiety. Results The paired samples t-test revealed that Locomo 25 total scores in 2020 were significantly higher than those in 2019. The GDS-15 score showed no significant difference. The comparison of scores for each item of the Locomo 25 revealed significantly higher scores in 2020 on Q21 ('difficult to perform sports activity', P = 0.0021), Q22 ('restricted from meeting own friends', P < 0.001), Q23 ('restricted from joining social activities', P < 0.001), Q24 ('anxious about falling in own house', P = 0.0023), and Q25 ('anxious about being unable to walk in the future', P = 0.0016). Conclusions About 2 months after declaration of the first state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, social activity was severely restricted. Older adults showed almost no changes in body pain and locomotive disabilities, but increases in their anxieties about walking ability and falling were remarkable.