Neki aspekti života starijih Europljana u pandemiji bolesti COVID-19: nalazi iz istraživanja SHARE Corona
Authors:   Ekonomski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Smolić Šime 
Published: July 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began its global spread in early 2020, has significantly changed the lives of people in almost every corner of the world. Today, almost two years later, long-term and unplanned effects of this, mainly health crisis may be observed, especially on the lives of the elderly. The elderly have also proven to be the most affected by the epidemic as the highest absolute and relative numbers of deaths from the disease have been recorded among them. The initial wave of the pandemic was marked by a dramatic health crisis and delayed responses of governments to prevent the spread of the pandemic, for example, in Belgium, Italy or Spain, and by strict measures to prevent the transmission of the infection in the other EU Member States; the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Croatia. It could be said that, among EU members, former socialist states were more successful in controlling the first wave of the pandemic, managing to protect the most vulnerable groups of the population, especially the elderly. Unfortunately, by the end of 2020, the uncontrolled spread of the pandemic in those countries had pushed their health systems to the limit of endurance, while the number of deaths reached unprecedented levels, accompanied by extremely high excess mortality. In addition, the COVID-19 vaccine did not arrive in time to contain the spread of the pandemic in early 2021. Due to a lack of response to voluntary vaccination, mainly during the summer of 2021, many countries entered the so-called fourth wave of the pandemic. To reveal how the pandemic has changed the lives of older Europeans the SHARE Corona Survey was launched in 26 EU Member States, Switzerland and Israel in mid-2020. It was conducted in two stages via a short telephone survey (lasting 25–30 minutes). The first SHARE Corona Survey collected data from approximately 57,000 respondents aged 50 and over. In mid-2021, about 47,000 respondents who had been surveyed at the first stage of SHARE Corona were re-surveyed at the second stage. This paper examines the effects of the pandemic on health, health behaviour, unmet health needs, and loneliness in a sample of 52,649 people aged 50 and over. During the first wave of the pandemic, the highest self-rated health deterioration occurred in Lithuania, Portugal and Belgium. Portugal and Luxembourg recorded high numbers of cancellations of scheduled medical examinations and treatments, while the fewest cancellations were observed in Romania and Bulgaria. Among people aged 50+, those in Luxembourg and the Czech Republic avoided seeking health care the most due to fear of coronavirus infection. On the other hand, almost every fifth person aged 50+ in Greece, Italy and Belgium has reported an increased sense of loneliness. It was also established that in post-socialist EU Member States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Latvia, the prevalence of deteriorating health during the first wave of the pandemic was lower by one to five percentage points compared to the so-called old Europe countries (χ2 (1, N = 52,649) = 16.9 p <0.001). At the same time, in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the prevalence of delayed examinations was lower by two to 26 percentage points compared to the other EU Member States and Switzerland (averaging 21% vs. 26%; (χ2 (1, N = 52,649) = 44.4 p <0.001). In post-socialist countries, people over the age of fifty were statistically significantly less likely to refrain from using healthcare services due to fear of coronavirus infection compared to other so-called old Europe countries (averaging 10% vs. 13%; χ2 (1, N = 52,649) = 114.3 p <0.001). The prevalence of increasing loneliness was significantly lower in post-socialist countries, averaging 8% versus 13%, in so-called old Europe countries (χ2 (1, N = 52,649) = 554.4 p <0.001). Policymakers, primarily in the field of health care and social welfare, should strive to create measures targeting social groups that are particularly vulnerable and have become even more vulnerable due to the pandemic. Such an approach, such as targeted measures for the most vulnerable, could reduce growing health and social inequalities among the 50+ generations.