The Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on the Health of Older Adults
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Dementia
- Sponsor
- Norwegian Centre for Ageing and Health
- Enrollment
- 12000
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Use of Health care services
- Status
- Recruiting
- Last Updated
- 2 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
This study will examine which impact lockdown strategies intending to prevent the spread of COVID-19 had on people with cognitive impairment and dementia.
Comprehensive data from two large health studies in Norway, conducted before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, will be linked with health register data on the use of health care services and medication. Further, it will be conducted a survey addressing questions on social isolation and use of communicative technology, from March 2020 to January 2021. The knowledge gained from this study can improve the health care system's ability to respond more adequately to pandemics and other unforeseen events, so that the negative consequences for older adults with dementia and cognitive impairment can be reduced.
Detailed Description
Introduction: To prevent the spread of COVID-19 societies around the world have implemented various levels of lockdown strategies. Norway locked down major parts of the society from March 2020. Specifically, this meant that public services were closed (e.g. most in-home healthcare services, day care centres, group exercise/gyms and services that offer physiotherapy, medical and psychological consultation). For people with cognitive impairment and dementia, social distancing and self-isolation may have limited the use of normal strategies (e.g., distraction, stimulation, and social interaction) that are routinely adopted to manage some of the dementia symptoms, such as neuropsychiatric symptoms. A lack of daily routines may change the clinical conditions of patients with dementia. Worsening of preexisting and/or the onset of new neuropsychiatric symptoms may occur, in addition to a possible decline of cognitive and functional capacities Aim: The overarching aim of this project is to provide decision makers with vital information to improve the healthcare of people with dementia and cognitive impairment in the context of an epidemic. Method: We will use four data sources:1) The fourth wave of the Trøndelag Health study (HUNT, HUNT4 70+), 2) Three national health registries (The Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR), the Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care (NRPHC) and the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD)), 3) A postal questionnaire concerning social isolation during the COVID-19 epidemic, and 4) The Ageing in Trøndelag study (AiT), which is a follow-up of the HUNT4 70+ study. With this linkage of cohort data and national health registry data, we can identify factors that may make people with cognitive impairment and dementia vulnerable to loss of healthcare services because of COVID-19 and subsequently to negative health consequences.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Inhabitants living in the designated areas
Exclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Use of Health care services
Time Frame: The participants' use of health care services from the period 2021-2022
Information from the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR) and the Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care (NRPHC)
Use of psychotropic medications
Time Frame: The participants' use of psychotropic medication from the period 2021-2022
Information from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD)
Secondary Outcomes
- Incidence of mild cognitive impairment(The participants were assessed when attending the HUNT4 70+-study, and will be assessed with the same measures in the followup study in 2021/2022)
- Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale(The participants were assessed when attending the HUNT4 70+-study, and will be assessed with the same measures in the followup study in 2021/2022)
- Incidence of dementia diagnosis(The participants were assessed when attending the HUNT4 70+-study, and will be assessed with the same measures in the followup study in 2021/2022)
- CERAD Ten-words test(The participants were assessed when attending the HUNT4 70+-study, and will be assessed with the same measures in the followup study in 2021/2022)