COVID-19 and geriatric population: from pathophysiology to clinical perspectives

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to a worldwide socio-economic depression, but has also had the highest health impact on the geriatric population. Elderly population, due to various reasons such as low immunity, pre-existing co-morbidities such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases or diabetes, are obviously predisposed to develop severe infections and exhibit a high mortality rate. This is because of many reasons which include the atypical presentation in the geriatric population which might have led to diagnostic delay. As per the WHO guidelines to perform RT-PCR only on the symptomatic individuals, a very small portion of individuals were tested, leaving a fraction of population undiagnosed. Therefore, there remained a chance that many asymptomatic individuals such caregivers, healthcare professionals, family members were undiagnosed and might have carried this virus to the geriatric patients. Also, many countries were not prepared to handle the burden on their healthcare system which included sudden increased demand of ICU beds, mechanical ventilation etc. As a result, they had to make decision on who to be admitted. Atypical presentation in geriatric population may include afebrile or low-grade fever, absence of cough, malaise, muscle pains, dyspnoea etc. Geriatric population shows a more severe type of pneumonia, significantly higher number of neutrophils and C-reactive protein, less lymphocytes and a higher proportion of multiple lobe involvement. Extreme social suppression during COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of mental and physical adverse effects that has made older adults more vulnerable to depression and anxiety.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; aged; elderly; geriatric.