Putting index on a column that gets updated frequently in postgres

Question

In a postgres db, I have a table with an UpdatedAtDate column that I put an index on. This column also gets updated frequently. Will the index be updated every time that column is updated and could this lead to performance issues? Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, the index has to be updated whenever you update the column.

What is worse, that index will prevent HOT updates, which greatly reduce the need for autovacuum runs to get rid of old, outdated row versions.

So if you can, drop that index and set the fillfactor for the table to less than 100.