Unlocking the Factors Associated with COVID-19-Related Fear in Older Adults from Kazakhstan

The aim of this study was to examine the factors associated with COVID-19-related fear in older adults from Kazakhstan, and to explore its associations with sociodemographic characteristics, health status and multiple domains of quality of life in a regional context. A total of 445 individuals aged 60 and above from both urban and rural locations in Kazakhstan participated in this cross-sectional study. To assess the quality of life among older people we used the OPQoL (Older People’s Quality of Life) Scale. Further variables were evaluated: sociodemographic (age, gender, education level, marital status, and place of residence); health-related (self-reported overall health, hypertension, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and COVID-19-related fear variable. Female gender (OR = 2.344; p = 0.001), present hypertension (OR = 2.106; p = 0.008), the specialized secondary educational level (OR = 2.321; p = 0.012) and at the border of significance university educational level (OR = 1.832; p = 0.051) were variables significantly associated with the COVID-19-related fear in older adults. For individuals with reported COVID-19-related fear, advanced age was significantly negatively associated with leisure and activities domain (B = −0.747; p = 0.020) of OPQoL; better self-reported overall health was significantly positively associated with life overall domain (B = 0.691; p < 0.001), health domain (B = 1.320; p < 0.001), psychological and emotional well-being domain (B = 0.395; p = 0.001), home and neighborhood domain (B = 0.249; p = 0.036), independence, control over life and freedom domain (B = 1.082; p < 0.001), financial circumstances domain (B = 1.132; p < 0.001), and leisure and activities domain (B = 0.556; p = 0.026) of OPQoL; present hypertension was significantly negatively associated with health domain (B = −0.888; p = 0.004) of OPQoL; present cardiovascular disease was significantly negatively associated with life overall domain (B = −0.588; p = 0.027), health domain (B = −0.967; p = 0.009), and independence, control over life and freedom domain (B = −0.542; p = 0.039) of OPQoL; being single was significantly negatively associated with life overall domain (B = −0.481; p = 0.033), social relations domain (B = −0.671; p = 0.014) and financial circumstances domain (B = −0.694; p = 0.036) of OPQoL; and urban place of residency was significantly positively associated with health domain (B = 0.735; p = 0.011) and psychological and emotional well-being domain (B = 0.483; p = 0.010) of OPQoL. Our findings pointed that numerous variables were associated with the COVID-19-related fear and quality of life domains regarding COVID-19-related fear in older adults from Kazakhstan during pandemics.