This study assesses older adults’ fear of contamination in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era, examining the factors associated with this fear and investigating its effects on their well-being and use of primary healthcare, considering the moderating effects of activities of daily living (ADL) and multimorbidity in these two relationships. A cross-sectional study was conducted in primary healthcare centers in three regions in Saudi Arabia with a convenience sample of 444 older adults diagnosed with chronic diseases. The results indicated that 77.9% of older adults had high contamination fear, predicted by their age, education level, gender, ADL, and previous COVID-19 infection experience. Subjective well-being and the number of primary healthcare visits in the post-COVID-19 era were negatively affected by contamination fear and both ADL and multimorbidity moderated these relationships. In conclusion, the study confirmed the need to focus on older adults’ contamination fear to mitigate its negative effects on well-being and critical primary healthcare visits.

这项研究评估了老年人在 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 后时代对污染的恐惧，研究了与这种恐惧相关的因素并调查了其对他们的福祉和使用初级保健的影响，同时考虑了以下因素的调节作用这两种关系中的日常生活活动 (ADL) 和多病态。在沙特阿拉伯三个地区的初级保健中心进行了一项横断面研究，其中包含 444 名被诊断患有慢性病的老年人的便利样本。结果表明，根据他们的年龄、教育水平、性别、ADL 和以前的 COVID-19 感染经历可以预测，77.9% 的老年人有高度的污染恐惧。后 COVID-19 时代的主观幸福感和初级医疗保健就诊次数受到污染恐惧的负面影响，ADL 和多种疾病都调节了这些关系。总之，该研究证实需要关注老年人对污染的恐惧，以减轻其对福祉和关键初级保健就诊的负面影响。