A new study from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health has reported that younger women were more likely to report high levels of stress and anxiety during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new study from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health has reported that younger women were more likely to report high levels of stress and anxiety during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The women in this study, like the rest of the population, have never lived through anything like this pandemic. To capture the sentiment, the team sent out fortnightly short, online surveys to assess women’s experiences of the pandemic.

Starting on April 29, 2020, email invitations were sent to nearly 30,000 women: 14,270 in the 1989-95 cohort, 8667 in the 1973 – 78 cohort and 6719 in the 1946 – 51 cohort. Of the respondents, 100 were randomly sampled in each cohort and analysed for commonality and themes.
10.7 per cent of those surveyed reported experiencing flu-like symptoms, with 4.9% undertaking a COVID-19 test.

One in four young women reported feeling very or extremely stressed. While one in five women aged 42 – 47 reporting high levels of stress. Women aged 69 – 74 reported the lowest feelings of stress.

Read the full report here

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health is conducted though the University of Newcastle and the University of Queensland. The University of Newcastle and HMRI provided funding for the COVID-19 studies.

Authors: Deborah Loxton, Peta Forder, Natalie Townsend, Clare Thomson, Gita Mishra, Leigh Tooth and Julie Byles.