ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been declared a global pandemic. Older adults have been found as a vulnerable group for developing severe forms of disease and increased mortality. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to propose a pathway to assist the decision-making process for hospital resource allocation for older adults with COVID-19 using simple geriatric assessment-based tools. METHODS: We reviewed the available literature at this point of the COVID-19 outbreak, focusing in older adult care to extract key recommendations for those health-care professionals who will be treating older adults in the hospital emergency ward (HEW) in developing countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: We listed a series of easy recommendations for non-geriatrician doctors in the HEW and suggested simple tools for hospital resource allocation during critical care evaluation of older adults with COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Age must not be used as the sole criterion for resource allocation among older adults with COVID-19. Simple and efficient tools are available to identify components of the comprehensive geriatric assessment, which could be useful to predict outcomes and provide high-quality care that would fit the particular needs of older adults in resource-limited settings amidst this global pandemic.
Subject(s)
Betacoronavirus , Clinical Decision-Making , Coronavirus Infections , Developing Countries , Emergency Service, Hospital , Pandemics , Pneumonia, Viral , Resource Allocation/standards , Activities of Daily Living , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , COVID-19 , Coronavirus Infections/economics , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Developing Countries/economics , Emergency Service, Hospital/economics , Female , Frail Elderly , Geriatric Assessment/methods , Humans , Male , Pandemics/economics , Patient Preference , Pneumonia, Viral/economics , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Prognosis , Resource Allocation/ethics , SARS-CoV-2 , Triage , Vulnerable PopulationsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic. High morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 have been observed among older adults and widely reported in both mainstream and social media. The objective of this study was to analyze tweets related to COVID-19 and older adults, and to identify ageist content. DESIGN: We obtained a representative sample of original tweets containing the keywords "elderly," "older," and/or "boomer" plus the hashtags "#COVID19" and/or "#coronavirus." SETTING: Tweets posted between March 12 and March 21, 2020. MEASUREMENTS: We identified the type of user and number of followers for each account. Tweets were classified by three raters as (1) informative, (2) personal accounts, (3) personal opinions, (4) advice seeking, (5) jokes, and (6) miscellaneous. Potentially offensive content, as well as that downplaying the severity of COVID-19 because it mostly affects older adults, was identified. RESULTS: A total of 18,128 tweets were obtained, of which a random sample of 351 was analyzed. Most accounts (91.7%) belonged to individuals. The most common types of tweets were personal opinions (31.9%), followed by informative tweets (29.6%), jokes/ridicule (14.3%), and personal accounts (13.4%). Overall, 72 tweets (21.9%) likely intended to ridicule or offend someone and 21.1% had content implying that the life of older adults was less valuable or downplayed the relevance of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Most tweets related to COVID-19 and older adults contained personal opinions, personal accounts, and jokes. Almost one-quarter of analyzed tweets had ageist or potentially offensive content toward older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1661-1665, 2020.