EDITORIAL

ABSTRACT

Older people aged >65 years are particularly vulnerable, with higher mortality rates.5,6 Earlier studies on COVID-19 have focused on differences between middle-age and older patients in typical features of infection and biochemical markers of inflammatory and radiological findings.7,8 Later studies have reported that older people can present atypically with or be complicated by intellectual impairment (delirium) and immobility (lethargy).6,9-11 Delirium and frailty status are important predictors for adverse outcomes and mortality. About 5% of older adults aged >65 years meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression, and 8% to 16% meet the criteria for subsyndromal depression.12 Sleep disorder is common in older adults, with about 50% having a sleep complaint.13 Most studies of risk factors for depression have focused on chronic medical diseases or physical functions.14,15 There are few studies on sleep quality and depression among older people living at residential home.16 In this issue, Dehghankar et al4 report that 36.3% of communityliving older adults in Qazvin, Iran are positive for depression, and that the risk of depression increases 2.5 fold among those with poor sleep quality. Clinical characteristics between older and younger patients with COVID-19 infection in a tertiary hospital a retrospective cross-sectional study.