Poverty in old age in times of COVID-19 - Empirical results from Austria

Early in the pandemic, researchers were cautioning that COVID-19 and the associated health policy countermeasures would have an increased negative impact on groups that were already vulnerable before the pandemic. One of these groups are older people affected by poverty, who according to official figures make up 13.9% of older population in Austria. Even before the pandemic, their living situation was considered precarious. Not without reason, this group has been identified as a high-risk group of the pandemic, due to their increased likelihood of severe COVID-19 related illness and their limited monetary resources and thus lower chances of coping with the pandemic. Nevertheless, research on this group has remained sparse to date. Therefore, the aim of the study is to focus on older people (60+ years) below the poverty line and to compare them with non-poor individuals. Data from the SHARE (Survey of Health Aging and Retirement in Europe) project is used, combining data from the two SHARE Corona Surveys (summer 2020 and summer 2021) and the SHARE Corona Special Austria Survey (December 2020) to gain the most complete picture of life situation during the pandemic. Results demonstrate that older people in poverty were more likely to report poor subjective health before as well as during the pandemic yet were significantly more likely to refuse vaccination against COVID-19, despite adhering to other measures against the pandemic to the same extent as non-poor people. Restrictions in the health care system affected both groups equally and no significant differences in the frequency of social contacts could be found. However, older people below the poverty line were significantly more likely to rely on social support to obtain necessities during the pandemic and were less likely to use the internet. Together, these results point out that disadvantage exist for the older poor in some but not all areas of life during the pandemic. This paper is aimed at providing first insights into the lives of poor older persons during a taxing time and may perhaps inspire more in-depth study of this particularly understudied population

The Organic Market in Switzerland and the EU - Overview and market access information for producers and international trading companies

The organic market is highly diverse. Production standards and certification and trade rules place considerable demands upon market participants. At the same time, this market holds out excellent opportunities for creative and circumspect producers, processors and traders. To operate successfully in organic import and export business alike, it is crucial to have accurate information on the potential of the specific organic market and on the conditions governing market access. The attractively designed handbook offers the very latest market information for producers an international trading companies, organized both by product group an by country on 80 pages. This second edition is updated in all chapters and has in addition three new markets: Austria, Italy and Sweden. In addition, the handbook provides an easily accessible overview of the - in some instances - quite complicates - import requirements applicable in Switzerland and the EU. In a further 50-page appendix, the handbook contains an extensive collection of addresses (trading companies, authorities, certification bodies, organizations etc.) and Internet Websites. The second edition of this handbook has been produced in English

In-gap features in superconducting LaAlO3_3-SrTiO3_3 interfaces observed by tunneling spectroscopy

We identified quasiparticle states at well-defined energies inside the superconducting gap of the electron system at the LaAlO$_3$-SrTiO$_3$ interface using tunneling spectroscopy. The states are found only in a number of samples and depend upon the thermal-cycling history of the samples. The states consist of a peak at zero energy and other peaks at finite energies, symmetrically placed around zero energy. These peaks disappear, together with the superconducting gap, with increasing temperature and magnetic field. We discuss the likelihood of various physical mechanisms that are known to cause in-gap states in superconductors and conclude that none of these mechanisms can easily explain the results. The conceivable scenarios are the formation of Majorana bound states, Andreev bound states, or the presence of an odd-frequency spin triplet component in the superconducting order parameter.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

The effect of COVID-19 on loneliness in the elderly. An empirical comparison of pre-and peri-pandemic loneliness in community-dwelling elderly

Old-age loneliness is a global problem with many members of the scientific community suspecting increased loneliness in the elderly population during COVID-19 and the associated safety measures. Although hypothesized, a direct comparison of loneliness before and during the pandemic is hard to achieve without a survey of loneliness prior to the pandemic. This study provides a direct comparison of reported loneliness before and during the pandemic using 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) on a pre- and a peri-pandemic sample of elderly (60C years) individuals from Lower Austria, a county of Austria (Europe). Differences on a loneliness index computed from the short De Jong Gierveld scale were found to be significant, evidencing that loneliness in the elderly population had in fact risen slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated safety measures. Although the reported loneliness remained rather low, this result illustrated the effect of the “new normal” under COVID-19. As loneliness is a risk factor for physical and mental illness, this result is important in planning the future handling of the pandemic, as safety measures seem to have a negative impact on loneliness. This work confirms the anticipated increase in loneliness in the elderly population during COVID-19

Gesundheitsverhaltensmuster der Wiener Bevölkerung - Assoziationen von Health Lifestyle und sozioökonomischen Determinanten

Der Beitrag betrachtet das Gesundheitsverhalten multidimensional und untersucht Risikoagglomerationen in Hinblick auf sozioökonomische Merkmalsverteilungen der Wiener Bevölkerung. Die Analysen zeigen, dass circa 38% der Bevölkerung zumindest in einer der beobachteten Kategorien riskante Verhaltensweisen haben, 35% mindestens zwei, wenn nicht gar drei Dispositionen. Sozioökonomische Faktoren wie beispielsweise formale Bildungsabschlüsse stehen mit einem multiplen Risikoverhalten in Zusammenhang

Determinants of older peoples's preferences for dispensing doctors

Objectives: Dispensing doctors (DDs) are a central part of the medication supply in Austria. Nevertheless, they are controversial and research pays little attention to perspectives of user-groups, especially older people. Therefore, this article deals with determinants of older people’s approval of dispensing doctors.Methods: For this purpose, data from a telephone survey with people over 60 years in Lower Austria are used and evaluated by means of a logit model.Results: The results show that accessibility of medicines is a major reason for the preference of DDs. Key factors are availability of a pharmacy in close proximity (OR: 0.44), independent use of a car (OR: 1.54) and individual mobility due to health reasons (OR: 1.14).Discussion: DDs are important for older people in terms of a spatially close drug supply. A pharmacy at the place of residence only outweighs the preference for DDs if it is actually accessible for older people (taking low travel costs into account).Conclusions: The aim must be to improve access to medicines in all communities where there is no pharmacy within a reasonable distance for people with health problems or those with restricted mobility

Caught between two fronts: successful aging in the time of COVID-19

Purpose–The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great challenge for older people both in terms of the severity of the disease and the negative consequences of social distancing. Assumptions about negative effects on the lives of the elderly, affecting dimensions of successful aging (such as the preservation of social relationships), have thus far been hypothetical and have lacked empirical evidence. The aim of this paper is to shed empirical light on the effects of COVID-19 on the everyday life of older people against the background of the concept of successful aging. Design/methodology/approach– Data of a standardized, representative telephone survey with residents of Lower Austria, a county of Austria, were used for this secondary analysis. The sample included 521 persons of 60 years of age and older. For this paper, contingency analyses (x2coefficients,z-tests using Bonferroni correction) and unidimensional correlational analyses were calculated. Findings–The empirical data show that successful aging along the three dimensions of successful aging is a challenge in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic–leaving the elderly caught between twofronts. Originality/value– The present work focusses on a unique moment in time, describing the changes tot he lives of Austrian elderly because of the social distancing measures imposed to protect against the spread of COVID-19. These changes are discussed in the theoretical framework of successful aging