COVID-19 has hit nursing homes hard

Pitkälä, Kaisu H.

doi:10.1007/s41999-020-00411-1

Cited by 35 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The reduced number of calls at nursing homes could account for the reduction in specific services, especially the decrease in wound treatments. Patients in nursing homes are one of the most vulnerable patient groups with regard to COVID-19 and were at the same time at risk for adverse health outcome due to isolation during the lockdown [47]. The medical care of frail elderly living alone and patients in nursing homes should be ensured while the number of COVID-19 infections is increasing again.…”

Section: Implications For Research and Clinical Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on consultation numbers, consultation reasons and performed services in primary care: results of a longitudinal observational study

et al. 2021

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Objectives The aims of our study were to describe the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on primary care in Germany regarding the number of consultations, the prevalence of specific reasons for consultation presented by the patients, and the frequency of specific services performed by the GP. Methods We conducted a longitudinal observational study based on standardised GP interviews in a quota sampling design comparing the time before the COVID-19 pandemic (12 June 2015 to 27 April 2017) with the time during lockdown (21 April to 14 July 2020). The sample included GPs in urban and rural areas 120 km around Hamburg, Germany, and was stratified by region type and administrative districts. Differences in the consultation numbers were analysed by multivariate linear regressions in mixed models adjusted for random effects on the levels of the administrative districts and GP practices. Results One hundred ten GPs participated in the follow-up, corresponding to 52.1% of the baseline. Primary care practices in 32 of the 37 selected administrative districts (86.5%) could be represented in both assessments. At baseline, GPs reported 199.6 ± 96.9 consultations per week, which was significantly reduced during COVID-19 lockdown by 49.0% to 101.8 ± 67.6 consultations per week (p < 0.001). During lockdown, the frequency of five reasons for consultation (-43.0% to -31.5%) and eleven services (-56.6% to -33.5%) had significantly decreased. The multilevel, multivariable analyses showed an average reduction of 94.6 consultations per week (p < 0.001). Conclusions We observed a dramatic reduction of the number of consultations in primary care. This effect was independent of age, sex and specialty of the GP and independent of the practice location in urban or rural areas. Consultations for complaints like low back pain, gastrointestinal complaints, vertigo or fatigue and services like house calls/calls at nursing homes, wound treatments, pain therapy or screening examinations for the early detection of chronic diseases were particularly affected.

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Section: Implications For Research and Clinical Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on consultation numbers, consultation reasons and performed services in primary care: results of a longitudinal observational study

et al. 2021

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“…Nursing home residents, like all people, may have also experienced loneliness, isolation, and physical deterioration stemming from measures intended to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 4,5 Clearly, reducing the spread of the virus, and thus deaths, is an essential policy goal. However, these additional costs cannot simply be overlookeddany carefully thought-out policy must weigh both the benefits and the costs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of the disruption to routines and the limited interaction during the pandemic, nursing home residents may have experienced adverse effects even beyond the direct effects of the virus. 5 The potential reduction in direct care from family members, visitors, and staff may have also affected residents' well-being. Policies that restricted visitors and limited resident movement and social interactions likely prevented the virus from spreading further and bought nursing homes and states time to procure sufficient PPE and increase testing capacity.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Adverse Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nursing Home Resident Well-Being

Levere

Rowan

Wysocki

2021

Journal of the American Medical Directors Association

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Objective: Quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing home resident well-being. Design: Quantitative analysis of resident-level assessment data. Setting and participants: Long-stay residents living in Connecticut nursing homes. Methods: We used Minimum Data Set assessments to measure nursing home resident outcomes observed in each week between March and July 2020 for long-stay residents (eg, those in the nursing home for at least 100 days) who lived in a nursing home at the beginning of the pandemic. We compared outcomes to those observed at the beginning of the pandemic, controlling for both resident characteristics and patterns for outcomes observed in 2017-2019. Results: We found that nursing home resident outcomes worsened on a broad array of measures. The prevalence of depressive symptoms increased by 6 percentage points relative to before the pandemic in the beginning of Marchdrepresenting a 15% increase. The share of residents with unplanned substantial weight loss also increased by 6 percentage points relative to the beginning of Marchdrepresenting a 150% increase. We also found significant increases in episodes of incontinence (4 percentage points) and significant reductions in cognitive functioning. Our findings suggest that loneliness and isolation play an important role. Though unplanned substantial weight loss was greatest for those who contracted COVID-19 (about 10% of residents observed in each week), residents who did not contract COVID-19 also physically deteriorated (about 7.5% of residents in each week). Conclusions and Implications: These analyses show that the pandemic had substantial impacts on nursing home residents beyond what can be quantified by cases and deaths, adversely affecting the physical and emotional well-being of residents. Future policy changes to limit the spread of COVID-19 or other infectious disease outbreaks should consider any additional costs beyond the direct effects of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19.

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“…These have been key locations for infections and deaths in many other regions, particularly in countries across Europe and North America. Older persons living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities have a higher risk for infection and adverse outcomes from the disease because they live in close proximity to others (Danis et al, 2020;Dichter, Sander, Seismann-Petersen, & Köpke, 2020;Pitkälä, 2020;Stern & Klein, 2020). However, in Eritrea, extended families, communities, and religious groups traditionally provide long-term care for the elderly within the home.…”

Section: Demographic Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Factors Contributing to Eritrea’s Successful COVID-19 Response

Amahazion¹

2021

JSS

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the greatest global crises in decades. To date, around the world tens of millions of cases have been confirmed, nearly two million people have died, and the livelihoods of billions have been greatly affected. While COVID-19 has been a truly global problem, infection and death rates in many African countries have been much lower than originally feared. One COVID-19 success story is Eritrea, a young, developing country in Northeast Africa that, by late December 2020, reported less than 1000 positive cases and one death due to COVID-19. However, despite its relative success, little focus has been devoted to Eritrea's response. How did it manage to keep COVID-19 at bay and what factors contributed to its success? Based on several different research methods, the present study finds that, notwithstanding limited resources, Eritrea has managed to respond to COVID-19 with relative efficiency and keep the virus at bay. The country's general success has been based upon a number of different factors.

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COVID-19 has hit nursing homes hard

Cited by 35 publications

References 20 publications

The effect of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on consultation numbers, consultation reasons and performed services in primary care: results of a longitudinal observational study

The effect of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on consultation numbers, consultation reasons and performed services in primary care: results of a longitudinal observational study

The Adverse Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nursing Home Resident Well-Being

Examining Factors Contributing to Eritrea’s Successful COVID-19 Response

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