[Determination of the post-pandemic self-perceived health level in the adult population of Eastern Andalusia: A cross-sectional study].

Abstract

Objective: The appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to the adoption of extreme health measures aimed at containing or minimizing the effects of the pandemic it produced. These measures had a significant impact on people's physical and mental health, causing a drastic decrease in the health-related quality of life by losing one of its fundamental pillars, social health. With this study, we aimed to assess the self-perceived health status after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional and observational study design was developed. Participants included the entire adult population over eighteen years of age residing in the provinces of Granada, Almería and/or Jaén as of January 1, 2023 until February 20, 2023. Each participant was administered the validated 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) to measure their self-perceived level of health. A descriptive analysis of all the variables included in the study was conducted using the statistical software SPSS v.22.

Results: The mean score obtained in the SF-36 questionnaire was 132.39±19.55 basis points; corresponding to a self-perceived level of good health. It had been observed that the confinement and other measures adopted during the pandemic led to a decrease in the self-perceived level of health, taking more than three years to return to pre-pandemic health levels.

Conclusions: The study of the population's self-perceived level of health aims to improve the health system and, in turn, to increase the mental, social and physical well-being of the population, avoiding the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming years.