COVID-19 Pandemic Experiences across the Shelter-Care Continuum in Older Adults

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on older adults (55+) living at the mid-point of the shelter-care continuum, in seniors housing (SH) and assisted living (AL), remains largely unexplored. This study compares survey responses of SH and AL residents with those of age peers living in private conventional community-based dwellings (CD) in British Columbia, Canada. Despite more SH/AL residents reporting feelings of isolation and changes to social support access, the pandemic appears to have had a greater negative impact on the routines of CD older adults. AL residents were more likely to engage in advance care planning discussions before and since the COVID-19 outbreak. These data are important for improving response to current and future disasters across the shelter-care continuum, particularly in ways to reduce the psychosocial effects of isolation or routine disruption, and strategies to increase advance care planning engagement.

The Prevalence of Frailty Syndrome and Its Associated Factors among Elderly Hospitalized in Firoozabadi Hospital

Background: Frailty Syndrome is one of the most common and important syndromes related to the elderly that plays an essential role in the quality of life and health status of the elderly. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Frailty syndrome and its associated factors in individuals over 55 years of age referred to the clinic of Firoozabadi Hospital in Rey in 2019-2020. Method: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out on individuals over 55 years of age referred to the clinic of Firoozabadi Hospital in Rey, Tehran, in 2019-2020. 200 elderly individuals were selected by the purposive sampling method and entered the study. To collect the required information, a demographic questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Questionnaire, and Frailty-Fried phenotype criteria were implemented. After collecting the data, it was entered into SPSS software version 20. In descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation, and inferential statistics due to non-normality of data, Spearman correlation coefficient and logistic regression were utilized to assess variables. Results: The mean age of participants was 69.72 +/- 7.897 years, and 72.5% of the participants were female. The average body mass index of the participants was 27.58 +/- 12.30 square meters. The 21.10 percentage of Frailty and 44.20% pre-frailty were respectively. There is a statistically significant positive correlation between Fried's criteria with a history of antipsychotic medication(r = 0.241, p = 0.004), congestive heart failure (r = 0.220, p = 0.009), history of falls (r = 0.283, p = 0.001) and poor sleep quality (r = 0.240, p = 0.004). A history of congestive heart disease, falls, and poor sleep quality have been found as predictive factors of fertility syndrome in the elderly. These variables indicate the increased incidence chance of fertility syndrome in the elderly. The mean sleep quality score in the elderly was higher than the pre-elderly and showed poorer sleep quality in this group (p <0.001). Conclusion: According to the study's findings, the prevalence of Frailty symptoms in the elderly population was close to 40%, which can be considered a high prevalence. Therefore, early identification and diagnosis of Frailty syndrome can prevent the adverse consequences. It is necessary to provide appropriate and comprehensive interventions to reduce the adverse effects of Frailty syndrome among the elderly population.

Monitoring COVID-19 vaccine use in Italian long term care centers: The GeroCovid VAX study.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed routine care practice for older persons, especially in those with frailty living in long term care (LTC) facilities. Due to the high mortality rates of Nursing home (NH) residents during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, priority for COVID-19 vaccinations was given to this vulnerable population. However, the safety and efficacy of such vaccines in older frail elders remains questionable due to the fact that initial randomized clinical trials (RCTs) for such vaccines did not include this population. This type of discrimination in patient participation in RCTs continues and has been recognized in the literature. Nevertheless, in the context of a worldwide emergency, COVID-19 vaccination in older persons living in LTC facilities may provide a solid basis to protect against negative outcomes, such as COVID-19 infection and death. In this report, we present the protocol of the GeroCovid Vax study, an Italian study that began in February 2021 which is aimed at investigating the safety and efficacy of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations in older persons living in LTCs. This protocol specially aims to continuously and closely monitor events related to- and following- the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in elderly living in LTC facilities. In this report, we will provide information related to the study protocol and describe baseline characteristics of the sample.

Automatic and Real-Time Computation of the 30-Seconds Chair-Stand Test without Professional Supervision for Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

The present paper describes a system for older people to self-administer the 30-s chair stand test (CST) at home without supervision. The system comprises a low-cost sensor to count sit-to-stand (SiSt) transitions, and an Android application to guide older people through the procedure. Two observational studies were conducted to test (i) the sensor in a supervised environment (n = 7; m = 83.29 years old, sd = 4.19; 5 female), and (ii) the complete system in an unsupervised one (n = 7; age 64-74 years old; 3 female). The participants in the supervised test were asked to perform a 30-s CST with the sensor, while a member of the research team manually counted valid transitions. Automatic and manual counts were perfectly correlated (Pearson's r = 1, p = 0.00). Even though the sample was small, none of the signals around the critical score were affected by harmful noise; p (harmless noise) = 1, 95% CI = (0.98, 1). The participants in the unsupervised test used the system in their homes for a month. None of them dropped out, and they reported it to be easy to use, comfortable, and easy to understand. Thus, the system is suitable to be used by older adults in their homes without professional supervision.