A point to evaluate in the COVID-19 pandemic process: Frailty
Abstract
Globally, as of September 16, 2020, COVID-19 had infected approximately 29 million
people and caused the death of 930 thousand people around the world. While the
whole world is at risk of COVID-19 infection, the elderly in particular represent the
highest risk group. Those who are very old and frail and have cognitive impairment
and multi-comorbidity, are the most vulnerable to the severe consequences of this
infection. Frailty is a less well-known and often overlooked issue compared to other
factors. In the world, the prevalence of frailty is seen to rise with the increase of the
aging population, and the prevalence of frailty among the elderly people living in
society is thought to be 4 to 59%. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the
entire world, leads to the necessity of taking care of elderly individuals in nursing
homes and care centers. The fact that most persons in such facilities are advanced
in age, frail and have multi-comorbidity, makes the management of the care even
more difficult. It is thought that there may be a potential relationship between frailty
and the course of COVID-19 and deaths resulting from the infection. The need for a
holistic assessment of not only the age of the patient but also the state of frailty, is
emphasized to ensure the triage of elderly persons and resource allocation during
COVID-19 pandemic process. This review was performed to raise awareness of
the healthcare professionals on the importance of frailty among the elderly during
the COVID-19 pandemic process and to provide general information about the
instruments that can be used to measure the frailty status of the elderly, when
managing the COVID-19 pandemic process.
Source
Acta Medica AlanyaVolume
5Issue
2URI
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1619615https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12868/1721