COVID‐19's impact on the mental health of older adults: Increase in isolation, depression, and suicide risk. An urgent call for action

Qualitative Study on Dialogic Literary Gatherings as Co-creation Intervention and Its Impact on Psychological and Social Well-Being in Women During the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…In addition, the perceptions of some of the female participants have also pointed out that the positive impact of the DLG in breaking down feelings of isolation and minimizing the anxiety generated by uncertainty and the fear of getting sick has been even more important during the lockdown period. Thus, the online DLG contributes to minimizing the risk factors for the deterioration of the psychological and social well-being and health of older people during confinement that have already been reported in other studies (5,7,54).…”

“…This study has responded to the call to action made by international organizations such as the UN and the WHO (10,11), as well as by the scientific community (4,7,53,54), to develop public health policies and community networks to address the consequences of social isolation and loneliness on older adults during the physical distancing measures implemented due to the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social isolation and loneliness are important risk factors that have been linked to poor psychological and physical health (5).…”

“…For this reason, an urgent global call for action to mitigate the consequences of the lockdown on the physical and mental health of older adults has been expressed by international organizations and the scientific community (7)(8)(9). The WHO points to anxiety and feelings of isolation as factors that deteriorate people's mental and physical health since people are without the closeness of loved ones, family routines and support networks, increasing the perceived risk of death and illness (10).…”

Othering and deprioritizing older adults’ lives: Ageist discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The psychological effects of COVID-19 on the elderly population have been widely recognized in recent months (Armitage & Nellums, 2020;Nobles et al, 2020;Troutman-Jordan & Kazemi, 2020), as well as the importance of analyzing how different countries managed the first months of the pandemic to avoid even worse consequences for older adults (Chaurasia et al, 2020;Monahan et al, 2020). As matter of fact, COVID-19 mainly affects the most physically frail people and those with previous diseases, so older adults are the demographic most at risk (Liu et al, 2020;Shahid et al, 2020).…”

Aging, Care, and Isolation in the Time of COVID-19.

“…Emerging data suggest that COVID-19 deaths and other acute conditions are increasingly unrelated to the virus itself, but born out of its social consequences (Delmas, Bouisset, and Lairez 2020;Manderson and Wahlberg 2020). There is concern regarding increasing suicides and (often interconnected) problems of gender-based violence and alcohol misuse (Al-Ali 2020; Gratz et al 2020;Ramalho 2020;Troutman-Jordan and Kazemi 2020). The aptly named 'broken heart syndrome'-stress cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy -is also reported to have increased since the start of the pandemic, with the primary risk factor being age, along with anxiety and/or depression (Alharthy et al 2020;Giustino et al 2020;Jabri et al 2020;Sattar et al 2020).…”