Association between Anxious and Depressive Symptomatology and Sexual Activity in Spain: A Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Quarantine

Introduction: Evidence on sexual behaviour and COVID-19 shows a change in sexual habits; however, there is no research on the association between mental health and sexual activity. Aim: To examine the relationship between mental health and sexual activity during the quarantine in Spanish adults. Methods: A sample of 305 adults filled out an online questionnaire. Sexual activity was assessed with one question. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), respectively. To check associations between levels of both anxiety and depressive symptoms (exposure) and weekly prevalence of sexual activity (outcome), we conducted multiple logistic regression adjusted for control variables (marital status, employment, average household annual income, place of living, pre-COVID-19 sexual activity, current smoking, current alcohol consumption, chronic physical conditions, chronic psychiatric conditions, physical symptoms, and days of confinement). Results: Higher depression level was associated with lower weekly sexual activity in a dose-response fashion in the three implemented models. Participants with higher levels of depression were associated with significantly lower sexual activity in the fully adjusted model (OR: 0.09, 95% CI 0.01–0.61). Mild anxiety-level participants consistently presented significantly lower ORs for lower sexual activity than their minimal-anxiety category counterparts. Particularly, the fully adjusted model showed the lower values (OR: 0.40, 95% CI 0.19–0.84). Conclusion: The results of this study support existing evidence stressing the association between mental health and sexual activity in quarantined adults

Associations between Hospitalization and Device-Assessed Physical Activity in a Representative Sample of Older Adults

Background: Evidence investigating associations between hospitalization and physical activity is scarce and limited to specific populations of older adults. Objective: The current study aimed to describe the impact of past hospitalization on current physical activity levels of a large representative sample of European older adults with accelerometry data. Methods: A representative sample of 856 European older adults aged 50 years and over was included in this study. Hospital admission and utilization (i.e., accumulated times and length of stay in hospital) in the last 12 months were self-reported retrospectively. Physical activity volume (mg) and distribution of intensity (intensity gradient) were assessed with thigh-worn accelerometers. Results: Multivariate linear regressions indicated that hospital admission (15% of the sample) was associated with reduced physical activity volume (−4.29 mg; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), −9.07 to 0.47) of participants. Each additional hospital admission was associated with lower volume (−2.29 mg; 95% CI, −4.65 to 0.06) and poorer distribution of intensity (−0.07; 95% CI, −0.11 to −0.04). Total length of stay was not associated with physical activity. Conclusions: This study suggests that hospital admission and the number of times admitted, but not accumulated length of stay, may curb physical activity levels of older adults. Public health strategies to promote successful aging should target post-hospitalization physical activity

Association of difficulties in daily physical activities and handgrip strength with cancer diagnoses in 65,980 European older adults

Background: People with cancer usually report physical deconditioning, which can limit daily activities.Aims: Our aim was to analyze associations between daily physical activities and handgrip strength with cancer diagnoses among European older adults.Methods: We used data from SHARE (a representative survey of individuals aged 50 years or older) wave 7, residing in 27 European countries and Israel. Participants self-reported difficulties in daily physical activities and cancer diagnoses, and handgrip strength was objectively assessed using a handheld dynamometer. Data was analyzed using binary logistic regression.Results: Overall, 65,980 participants (average age 67.6 years (SD = 9.4)) were analyzed. Having difficulties in any daily physical activity was significantly associated with higher odds of cancer diagnoses. Lower handgrip strength was significantly associated with cancer diagnoses among participants included in the first (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.27 [95%CI =1.11-1.45]) and the second third (AOR = 1.15 [95%CI =1.03-1.28]) when compared with participants from the last third in the final adjusted model.Discussion: Having difficulties in daily physical activities as well as lower levels of handgrip strength is positively associated with cancer diagnoses.Conclusion: Adults with difficulties lifting or carrying weights over 5 kilos or having difficulties in two or more activities showed critical associations with cancer diagnosis.</p