Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown Measure in a Low Socio-Economic Setting

Adrian Fianu (1, 2, 3) , Hind Aissaoui (3) , Nadège Naty (1, 3) , Victorine Lenclume (1, 3) , Anne-Françoise Casimir (1, 3) , Emmanuel Chirpaz (1, 3) , Olivier Maillard (1, 3) , Michel Spodenkiewicz (1, 3, 4) , Nicolas Bouscaren (1, 3) , Michelle Kelly-Irving (2) , Emmanuelle Rachou (5) , Cyrille Delpierre (2) , Patrick Gérardin (1, 3)

1 CIC 1410 - Centre d'Investigation Clinique de La Réunion - INSERM
2 CERPOP - Centre d'Epidémiologie et de Recherche en santé des POPulations
3 CHU La Réunion - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de La Réunion
4 CESP - Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations
5 ORS La Réunion - Observatoire régional de la santé La Réunion

In March 2020, the French government implemented nationwide measures to reduce social contact and slow the progression of the emerging coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, the most significant being a complete home lockdown that lasted 8 weeks. Reunion Island is a French overseas department marked by large social inequalities. We draw the hypothesis that distancing and lockdown measures may have contributed to an increase in the social inequalities in health (SIH) on Reunion Island. The aim of our study was to describe the SIH during lockdown in the Reunionese population. We implemented a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted between 13 May and 22 July 2020, using a retrospective data collection on the lockdown period. A total of 892 adult participants (≥18 years) were recruited in the 114 large Reunionese neighborhoods using the quota method within the national "White Pages" telephone directory. Degraded psychological states, an increase in addictive behaviors, difficulties in accessing food, a decrease in physical activity, delayed medical appointments, violence against women, and health problems in children were driven by the socioeconomic characteristics of the population, most often to the disadvantage of social groups exposed to poor living conditions. These results suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown contributed to an increase in SIH.

Mots clés: COVID-19 pandemic; lockdown; Reunion Island; living conditions; self-reported health; social inequalities in health; social epidemiology

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie; Environnement et Société; Méthodes et statistiques

Adrian Fianu, Hind Aissaoui, Nadège Naty, Victorine Lenclume, Anne-Françoise Casimir, et al.. Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdown Measure in a Low Socio-Economic Setting: A Cross-Sectional Study on Reunion Island. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19 (21), pp.13932. ⟨10.3390/ijerph192113932⟩. ⟨hal-03876926⟩