ABSTRACT
COVID-19 disease, which affects the whole world and is declared as a pandemic by the world health organization, affects the elderly mostly due to both physiological changes because of aging and its comorbidities. Studies have reported that mortality and morbidity are higher in the elderly than young people. Like other infections, COVID-19 disease can manifest itself with different symptoms, as the immune response decreases with aging. Also, they have difficulties in describing and expressing the symptoms because of the decrease in their cognitive functions, which leads to a delay in hospital admissions. Although there are no findings specific to the elderly in laboratory values and radiological imaging, some findings were found to be more common in the elderly. Among the treatment options, a different treatment protocol specific to the elderly is not applied. However, since the comorbidities of geriatric patients and the number of medicine they use are high, care should be taken in terms of medicine side effects and drug-drug interactions during treatment. The COVID-19 epidemic affects the elderly not only physically, but also socially and psychologically. All these situations lead to a more severe course of COVID-19 disease by causing increased malnutrition and sarcopenia in the elderly and making them frailer. During the COVID-19 pandemic process, elderly patients should be evaluated considering all these conditions and necessary medical, psychological, and social support should be provided. © 2021 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 disease was first defined in December 2019, and its causative agent was determined as SARS-COV-2 in January 2020. There is no specific treatment for this infection that affects more than one organ system, especially the pulmonary system. Many medical treatments have been tried until today, and studies on their efficacy and safety have been published. Anti-malarial drugs;anti-retrovirals, ribavirin, remdesivir, favipiravir, and other antiviral agents;corticosteroids;anti-cytokines and immunomodulatory agents;immunoglobulins are listed among the drugs evaluated. The mechanism of action, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, and side effects of each drug group are different. Medical treatment should be individualized considering these differences. © 2021 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.