Direct and indirect neurological, cognitive, and behavioral effects of COVID-19 on the healthy elderly, mild-cognitive-impairment, and Alzheimer's disease populations.
Neurol Sci
; 42(2): 455-465, 2021 Feb.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1012219
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Healthy elderly, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease populations have been among the most affected in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the direct effects of the virus, and numerous indirect effects now emerge and will have to be carefully assessed over time.METHODS:
This article reviews the main articles that have been published so far about the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on these particularly fragile populations.RESULTS:
The pandemic associated to COVID-19 has shifted most of the health resources to the emergency area and has consequently left the three main medical areas dealing with the elderly population (oncology, time-dependent diseases and degenerative disease) temporarily "uncovered". In the phase following the emergency, it will be crucial to guarantee to each area the economic and organizational resources to quickly return to the level of support of the prepandemic state.CONCLUSIONS:
The emergency phase represented a significant occasion of discussion on the possibilities of telemedicine which will inevitably become increasingly important, but all the limits of its use in the elderly population have to be considered. In the post-lockdown recovery phase, alongside the classic medical evaluation, the psychological evaluation must become even more important for doctors caring about people with cognitive decline as well as with their caregivers.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Aging
/
Delivery of Health Care
/
Alzheimer Disease
/
Cognitive Dysfunction
/
COVID-19
/
Health Resources
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Neurol Sci
Journal subject:
Neurology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S10072-020-04902-8
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