REPERCUSSION OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY POPULATION (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which originated in Wuhan, China, took less than two months to evolve into a public health threat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many seniors may experience a new or higher level of loneliness due to disruptions in personal social activities, often due to pre-existing chronic illnesses, visual or hearing impairments, or caused by dysfunction. In the context of the pandemic and social isolation, the mental health of the elderly suffers multiple consequences, therefore, this study aims to analyze the impact of social isolation in the elderly on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the population. As for the search strategy, a search was performed in the PubMed database, using the following syntax: elderly with covid 19 AND mental health AND social isolation AND incidence. After the search, a total of 79 articles were found, of which 48 were unanimously excluded by the authors. Then, 31 articles were read in detail, excluding theoretical articles (N = 9), and articles that did not provide epidemiological data (N = 17) on the incidence of the variables of this study. After the above procedure, 3 articles were selected for systematic review. The study's key findings showed that during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, older patients with restrictive lockdown measures scored significantly higher on scales of total anxiety, depression, and stress. Overall, these findings confirm that older adults experience more loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide important information for possible future research directions when investigating the impact of COVID-19 on older adults.