**3. Results**

Table 2 presents descriptive statistics of the standardised research tools applied in this study. In two scales (STAI and SHAI), the mean scores demonstrated mild symptoms indicative of anxiety disorders in the older respondents. In the remaining scale (GAD-7), the means scores were not sufficient to identify the presence of anxiety symptoms related to COVID-19. The detailed values for individual variables are listed in Table 2.

**Table 2.** Descriptive statistics for the scales applied in the study.


Abbreviations: GAD-7—General Anxiety Disorder-7, Max.—maximum, Me—median, Min.—minimum, SD standard deviation, SHAI—Short Health Anxiety Inventory, STAI—State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Q1—lower quartile, Q3—upper quartile, and *x*—mean.

Table 3 presents the prevalence of anxiety symptoms among students of University of the Third Age according to the standardized cut-off points. Most of the respondents showed anxiety symptoms measured by the STAI. Similarly, most older adults showed minimal or mild anxiety symptoms based on the GAD-7 scores. On the other hand, over 3/4 of the respondents did not show symptoms of anxiety disorders on the basis of the SHAI (Table 3).

**Table 3.** Prevalence of anxiety symptoms among students of University of the Third Age according to the standardized cut-off points.


Abbreviations: GAD-7—General Anxiety Disorder-7, SHAI—Short Health Anxiety Inventory, and STAI—State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

The analysis of the scores obtained using the applied scales in the study group, taking into account the individual sociodemographic variables, indicated that women and men did differ significantly in terms of the scores obtained in STAI X-1 (*p* = 0.002) and STAI X-2 (*p* = 0.020) (Table 4).

**Table 4.** Impact of sex on the scores obtained in the psychometric scales applied in the study.


Abbreviations: GAD-7—General Anxiety Disorder-7, Me—median, *p*—*p*-value, SD—standard deviation, SHAI— Short Health Anxiety Inventory, STAI—State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, *x*—mean, and \*—statistically significant.

There were no statistically significant differences between respondents with higher education and those with a different level of education. Nor were there any statistically significant differences between professionally active respondents and pensioners. A number of statistically significant differences were noted for the results of the applied scales in terms of the marital status. The analysis revealed that single respondents differed significantly

from divorced ones in terms of STAI X-1 scores (*p* = 0.046). Moreover, widows/widowers differed significantly from divorced ones in terms of STAI X-2 (*p* = 0.045), and GAD-7 scores (*p* = 0.032) (Table 5).


**Table 5.** Impact of marital status on the scores obtained in the psychometric scales applied in the study \*.

\* The table also includes statistically significant results of the post hoc tests; for the remaining comparisons *p* > 0.05. Abbreviations: GAD-7—General Anxiety Disorder-7, K-W—Kruskal–Wallis test, Me—median, *p*—*p*-value, SD—standard deviation, SHAI—Short Health Anxiety Inventory, STAI—State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and *x*—mean.

> Respondents declaring their financial status as average differed significantly from those declaring their financial status as good in terms of: STAI X-1, STAI X-2, SHAI, and GAD-7 scores. Details are included in Table 6.

**Table 6.** Impact of financial status on the scores obtained in the psychometric scales applied in the study \*.


\* The table also includes statistically significant results of the post hoc tests; for the remaining comparisons *p* > 0.05. Abbreviations: GAD-7—General Anxiety Disorder-7, K-W—Kruskal–Wallis test, Me—median, *p*—*p*-value, SD—standard deviation, SHAI—Short Health Anxiety Inventory, STAI—State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and *x*—mean.

> When analysing the obtained data, no statistically significant association was found between age and scores of the individual scales. Moreover, the respondents were divided into subgroups by sex, marital status, level of education, and place of residence, and the associations between age and scale scores were also analysed within these individual subgroups. Taking into account the division by education, the significance was found for the correlation between age and STAI X-1 (r = −0.140, *p* = 0.042) in the group of people with higher education. As for the remaining divisions, the results obtained in the subgroups confirmed the results obtained in the full set analysis and, consequently, no significant correlation between age and scores of the applied scales was found.

> The study also involved relationships between the values of all applied scales. It was found that each of the correlation coefficients was positive, high, and statistically significant (Table 7). Moreover, an analogous analysis was performed in subgroups, taking into account sex, marital status, education, and place of residence. All of the resultant correlation coefficients were positive, high, and statistically significant.


**Table 7.** Spearman's rank correlations between standardised psychometric scales used in the study.

Abbreviations: GAD-7—General Anxiety Disorder-7, *p*—*p*-value, r—Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, SHAI—Short Health Anxiety Inventory, STAI—State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and \*—statistically significant.

### **4. Discussion**

This study is one of the first to determine the correlation between various sociodemographic factors and perceived anxiety related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the older Polish population. It was shown that the actively ageing older people experience various levels of anxiety symptoms related to COVID-19, depending on the applied scales. However, none of the scales yielded sufficiently high results to identify high COVID-19-related anxiety, and the set research hypothesis was therefore not confirmed in this study.

Although the present study demonstrated only mild anxiety symptoms in STAI and SHAI scales, other studies among the older adults from other countries have revealed that COVID-19 contributes to the worsening of mental health in this age group, primarily due to anxiety related to death, which is a consequence of this disease [23,24].

In our study, the prevalence of anxiety symptoms as measured by GAD-7 was 41.1%, including 28% of mild, 7.7% of moderate, and 5.4% of severe anxiety symptoms. Another Polish study, conducted using the same tool among university students, found that the prevalence of anxiety was high and was 65%, including 32% of mild, 21% of moderate, and 14% cases of severe anxiety disorder [25]. It is worth noting that higher percentages were recorded among young adults, not seniors. These differences could have been influenced by the timing of the study (young people were examined at the beginning of the pandemic) and the size of the group (the group of students was much larger than the group of seniors).

The present study showed that age was not linked significantly with anxiety related to developing COVID-19. These results are in line with previous studies, both Polish [26] and conducted abroad [27–29], which have shown that age is negatively correlated with anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. The available literature contains publications that did confirm high anxiety in the oldest age groups, particularly in China [30,31].

The present study did not show any statistically significant differences between professionally active respondents and those that finished their career (receiving retirement or disability pensions). The reverse was observed by Mistry et al. [32]. These authors found that older people who were unemployed or retired felt anxious about contracting COVID-19, and about its negative consequences, significantly more often. The same study [32] also confirmed a similar relationship as in the present study, namely that subjects with a worse financial status experienced stronger COVID-19-related anxiety than people with a better financial status.

The present study demonstrated that women were characterised by a higher level of COVID-19-related anxiety than men. The obtained values are in line with evidence provided by other authors confirming that women more often complain about stronger anxiety symptoms compared to men [25,33,34]. Other authors have also observed this relationship in their studies; for instance, in the study involving the Chinese population, women reported stronger worries related to developing COVID-19 than men [35]. In the present study, the overrepresentation of women compared to men in the study population could have affected the resulting higher level of anxiety. The finding that female sex is a predictor of anxiety suggests (as does the report of Naharci et al. [36]) that older women are

more susceptible to mental health risks associated with COVID-19. The previous COVID-19-related studies reported mixed results regarding the association between sex and anxiety disorders. Two population-based studies showed that women tend to worry more often and are more susceptible to mental problems [37,38]. A recent literature review suggested that women have a tendency to develop a more psychological anxiety experience [39]. Nonetheless, further studies are needed to reflect sex-based differences in stress exposure related to developing infectious diseases.

In the study conducted by Islam et al. [40], it was shown that generalised anxiety was not significantly correlated with respondents' education—a finding in line with the present study. Regarding educational level, the results revealed that older adults with higher education levels had lower levels of anxiety. This is consistent with the findings reported in Italy [41] and Egypt [42] which showed that lower level of education directly indicates the beginning of the increased pandemic stress. This may be attributed to the fact that education is the foundation for successful coping. On the other hand, some studies suggested that people with higher education tended to be more concerned, perhaps due to a high degree of self-awareness of their well-being [30]. The novel nature of coronavirus disease and changing perceptions about the disease are one of the main factors justifying these opposite results.

The current facts suggest that certain groups of people (for example, older adults) may be especially prone to experiencing generalised anxiety in the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and further investigations are needed to specify the causes and develop appropriate interventions to improve the public health of the entire population.
