Impact of COVID-19 on older adults and role of long-term care facilities during early stages of epidemic in Italy

Abstract

Older adults are the main victims of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak and elderly in Long Term Care Facilities (LTCFs) are severely hit in terms of mortality. This paper presents a quantitative study of the impact of COVID-19 outbreak in Italy during first stages of the epidemic, focusing on the effects on mortality increase among older adults over 80 and its correlation with LTCFs. The study of growth patterns shows a power-law scaling regime for the first stage of the pandemic with an uneven behaviour among different regions as well as for the overall mortality increase according to the different impact of COVID-19. However, COVID-19 incidence rate does not fully explain the differences of mortality impact in older adults among different regions. We define a quantitative correlation between mortality in older adults and the number of people in LTCFs confirming the tremendous impact of COVID-19 on LTCFs. In addition a correlation between LTCFs and undiagnosed cases as well as effects of health system dysfunction is also observed. Our results confirm that LTCFs did not play a protective role on older adults during the pandemic, but the higher the number of elderly people living in LTCFs the greater the increase of both general and COVID-19 related mortality. We also observed that the handling of the crises in LTCFs hampered an efficient tracing of COVID-19 spread and promoted the increase of deaths not directly attributed to SARS-CoV-2.

Knowledge and Lifestyle Behaviors Related to COVID-19 Pandemic in People over 65 Years Old from Southern Italy

“…Northern regions saw a higher infection rate (up to 763 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Valle D'Aosta); lower values were reported in central regions (up to 389 per 100,000 inhabitants in Marche) and these figures were even lower in Southern regions (up to 174 per 100,000 inhabitants in Abruzzo) [3]. Older adults were the main victims, and a correlation between mortality in older adults and the number of people hosted in long-term care facilities has been observed [3]. However, the incidence rate of COVID-19, outlined above, does not fully explain the differences in mortality among older adults in different regions.…”

“…During the first months of 2020, a novel coronavirus, previously detected in China, arrived in Italy, causing a severe acute respiratory disease (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. The virus spread rapidly across the country in consecutive waves, causing thousands of hospitalizations and deaths [1,2], with an uneven impact throughout the regions of Italy, especially during the first wave [3]. Northern regions saw a higher infection rate (up to 763 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Valle D'Aosta); lower values were reported in central regions (up to 389 per 100,000 inhabitants in Marche) and these figures were even lower in Southern regions (up to 174 per 100,000 inhabitants in Abruzzo) [3].…”

“…The virus spread rapidly across the country in consecutive waves, causing thousands of hospitalizations and deaths [1,2], with an uneven impact throughout the regions of Italy, especially during the first wave [3]. Northern regions saw a higher infection rate (up to 763 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Valle D'Aosta); lower values were reported in central regions (up to 389 per 100,000 inhabitants in Marche) and these figures were even lower in Southern regions (up to 174 per 100,000 inhabitants in Abruzzo) [3]. Older adults were the main victims, and a correlation between mortality in older adults and the number of people hosted in long-term care facilities has been observed [3].…”

Clinical and Radiological Deterioration in a Case of Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease following SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Hints to Accelerated Age-Dependent Neurodegeneration

“…Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that quickly escalated into a pandemic after the first reported cases in China in December 2019. The SARS-CoV-2 infection can affect individuals of any age, with elderly people being particularly vulnerable, and among which high mortality rates were observed [ 8 ]. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 varies from an asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome [ 9 , 10 ].…”

Interplay of Nutrition and Psychoneuroendocrineimmune Modulation: Relevance for COVID-19 in BRICS Nations

“…Nevertheless, many other factors also influence the severity including pre-existing comorbidities. The case fatality rate (CFR) was significantly higher in the older population reported as 14%, whereas lower to approximately 2.3% in general individuals (Amore et al, 2021).…”