Effects of Corona Virus-2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Older People.

To the Editor,

The article by Alexander Seifert (2021) showed that the Corona Virus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected older adults’ subjective views of their own aging and also after lockdown older adults experienced higher levels of subjective feelings of negative self-perception of aging (SPA) and lower levels of positive SPA (Seifert, 2021). Although the COVID-19 pandemic affects people in all age groups, but older people are at a higher risk for negative clinical outcomes, including mortality, compared to other age groups. Therefore, it is important to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on older people. In fact, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic can include problems of health, economy, social life, public policies, and the implications of prolonged COVID-19 (Emami Zeydi et al., 2021; Monahan et al., 2020; Morrow-Howell et al., 2020; Tisdell, 2020).

Older people’s health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic can include poor nutrition and consumption of processed foods due to the fear of leaving home and the unavailability of healthy food. Hence, improper nutrition and consumption of processed foods that are rich in sodium and potassium can have negative effects on the blood pressure of older people and, ultimately, can lead to a health threat to them (Schrack et al., 2020). Economic failures are an integral part of the consequences of such crises. Although young workers may be in a worse position by losing their jobs; however, older people will find it harder to re-enter the job market. On the other hand, older people may lose their retirement savings by reducing their income and hitting the financial markets (Tisdell, 2020). Therefore, the economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to depression, job dissatisfaction, and poor health status in older workers. Isolation and quarantine also led to the inadequacy of the physical, emotional, and social needs of the older people, including poor personal care, nutrition, drug management, and ultimately deteriorating health and the need for more long-term support services in older people (Morrow-Howell et al., 2020).

Social isolation and loneliness are associated with negative psychological and physical consequences such as anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and death in older people (Emami Zeydi et al., 2021). In addition, issues such as ageism, classism, and racism have created problems for older people (Monahan et al., 2020). Older people with different skin tones and poorer socioeconomic status were at greater risk for poor quality care during the COVID-19 pandemic (Javadi-Pashaki et al., 2021; Morrow-Howell et al., 2020). A study found that life expectancy in 27 of the 29 countries decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic (Aburto et al., 2022).

In sum, although the present study addressed the short- and medium-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on older people, but the long-term effects of this pandemic on older people have not yet been fully elucidated. Therefore, it is suggested that future researchers assess the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on older people. Also, health managers and policymakers need to develop effective interventions to address these problems in older people.