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. 2020 Mar 1;23(1):155-159.
doi: 10.5770/cgj.23.445. eCollection 2020 Mar.

COVID-19 and Older Adults. Lessons Learned from the Italian Epicenter

Matteo Cesari  1   2 , Manuel Montero-Odasso  3   4   5
Affiliations

COVID-19 and Older Adults. Lessons Learned from the Italian Epicenter

Matteo Cesari et al. Can Geriatr J. .

Abstract

On March 13th, 2020, The World Health Organization effectively established that Europe is the new the COVID-19 pandemic world epicenter, as cases in Italy and other European nations soared. The numbers in Italy have climbed with over 80,000 cases as of March 25th, 2020 and with over 8000 deaths, placing Italy now as the country with the highest mortality rate. Importantly, older adults are particularly vulnerable to get severe illness, complications, and to have a higher mortality rate than any other age group. The clinical presentation in older adults with severe illness, in the experience from geriatricians in Lombardy, is described as quite sudden; patients can develop severe hypoxemia with the need of ventilation support in few hours. Geriatric syndromes are not a common form of presentation for COVID-19 in severe illness. It is suggested that stratification by frailty level may help to detect the most vulnerable, and decisions about healthcare resource prioritization should not be taken based only on age itself or previous diagnosis, such as having dementia.

Keywords: COVID-19; Italy; aged; older adults; pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURES The authors declare that no conflicts of interest exist.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Number of COVID-19 cases regionally in Italy
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Percentage of clinical presentation of patients who tested COVID-19–positive
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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