ELSI-COVID-19 initiative: methodology of the telephone survey on coronavirus in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging

The COVID-19 pandemic (caused by the SARS-CoV-2) is a public health emergency of international concern that particularly affects older people. Brazil is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic, ranking second with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths worldwide as of mid-June 2020. The ELSI-COVID-19 initiative is based on telephone interviews with participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), conducted on a nationally representative sample of the population aged 50 or older. This initiative aims to provide information on adherence to preventive measures (social distancing, wearing masks, and handwashing/hygiene); reasons for leaving the house, when that was the case; difficulties obtaining medications, medical diagnosis of COVID-19, and receipt of confirmatory results; use of health-care services (recent care-seeking, care-seeking location, care receipt, among other aspects); and mental health (sleep, depression, and loneliness). The first round of telephone interviews was conducted between May 26 and June 8, 2020. The second and third rounds are expected to occur within the coming months. This article presents this initiative methodology and some sociodemographic characteristics of the 6,149 participants in the survey first round, relative the Brazilian population within the same age group.由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）引发的新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）大流行，是一项国际关注的突发公共卫生事件，尤其对老年群体造成显著冲击。巴西是受此次大流行影响最严重的国家之一，截至2020年6月中旬，其确诊病例数与死亡数均位列全球第二。 ELSI-COVID-19研究项目以巴西老龄化纵向研究（ELSI-Brazil）的参与者为访谈对象，其抽样覆盖了全国范围内50岁及以上的具有代表性的人群样本。本项目旨在收集以下多维度信息：一是新冠防控措施依从性情况，包括社交距离保持、口罩佩戴以及洗手/手部卫生执行情况；二是外出活动的具体原因；三是药物获取困难、新冠感染医学诊断及确认检测结果获取情况；四是医疗服务使用情况，涵盖近期就医行为、就医地点、诊疗服务获取等相关维度；五是心理健康状况，包括睡眠质量、抑郁情绪与孤独感水平。 首轮电话访谈于2020年5月26日至6月8日期间开展，第二、三轮访谈预计将在后续数月内进行。 本文详述了该研究项目的方法学框架，并针对首轮调研的6149名参与者，分析了其与同年龄段巴西人群相比的部分社会人口学特征。