Objectives: to investigate the effect of biopsychological age indicators on the severity of Covid-19 disease in adults of different age groups of the Russian Federation population during the 2020 epidemic. Methods: comprehensive studies and questionnaires were carried out (Longitudinal study). The indicators of biopsychological age were measured in the middle of 2019, and in the middle of 2020. Additionally, in the middle and end of 2020, the number of cases, the severity of the disease and its outcome were assessed. 447 people aged 35-70 years (women 306) were examined. Group 1 (working adults) - 239 people (155 women). Group 2 (risk group) - unemployed pensioners with chronic diseases - 208 people (151 women). The indicators of biological age, self-assessment of health, indicators of subjective psychological age were evaluated. The significance of biopsychological age indicators influence on disease severity was calculated by Anova analysis.
Results. In mid-2020 (during quarantine), an increase in biological age and biological aging index was observed in Group 1. For men - (by 3.9 - 8 years) P <0.05; for women, a slight increase (at the level of the trend); On the contrary, in group 2 there was no increase in the rate of biological aging during quarantine. According to the indicators of subjective psychological age, group 1 (working people) began to feel younger (by 3.3 - 7.2 years) P <0.05, but the expected retirement age did not change and remained below that established in Russia. The number of COVID-19 cases was: 0.2% in the middle of 2020 and 16.5% at the end of 2020. The influence of indicators of biopsychological age on the severity of the disease in group 1 was revealed. In women, biological age, relative biological aging, pulse pressure, self-assessment of diseases increased the severity of the disease. An increase in relative psychological aging, on the contrary, reduced the severity of the disease (p <0.05). Body weight, static balancing had no effect. In men, biological age, deterioration in self-esteem of diseases increased the severity of the disease, while relative psychological aging also decreased the severity of the disease. Blood pressure, time of breath holding on inspiration, relative biological aging, psychological age, static balancing did not affect the severity of symptoms of the disease in men. In contrary to our expectation, no any cases of the COVID-19 in group 2 (risk group) were observed.
Conclusions: Indicators of relative biological and psychological aging of an individual affect the development of the disease and its severity, while the combination of increase in relative biological aging and underestimated psychological age are the most dangerous and increase the probability of developing severe forms of Covid-19 (P <0.05). The identified indicators can point to special attention groups for intensive treatment and priority vaccination during the COVID-19 epidemic.
This work was supported by Russian Science Foundation, No. 19-18-00058
