LAUSR

The 2020 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS; conducted May–October by phone, response rate=94.7%) is a nationally representative survey ofMedicare beneficiaries ≥70 years. A COVID-19 supplement was also fielded from June– December 2020 (by mail, response rate=82.2%). This analysis includes all COVID-19 supplement respondents (n=3257). Respondents were asked: “During the COVID-19 outbreak, has there ever been a time when you needed or had planned to see a doctor or other health care provider but put off getting care?” We examined type of and reason for delayed care among those who endorsed delay. Other respondent characteristics included demographics (sex, age, race/ethnicity), socioeconomic status (marital status, education, Medicaid enrollment, living alone, residential setting), health and functional status, and self-reported comorbidities (heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, stroke, cancer, arthritis, hypertension, dementia, depression, anxiety). COVID-19-related variables included whether the respondent or others in their household or facility had COVID-19 symptoms, diagnosis, or positive test; COVID-19 was still affecting daily life in the respondent’s state; respondents moved to another place or someone else moved in; and having family or friend caregiver during the pandemic. We used adjusted logistic regression to examine factors associated with delayed care and calculated the mean predicted probability of delayed care for each characteristic, holding all others constant. We used NHATS analytic weights to generate nationally representative estimates. Statistical significance was set a two-tailedp<.05. Analyses were performed using STATA, version 15.1.