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. 2022 Mar:309:114398.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114398. Epub 2022 Jan 17.

Incidence and outcomes of COVID-19 first wave pandemic in a French nursing home with residents suffering from severe mental illnesses

Kavitha Loganathan  1 , Pascale Leroy  1 , Pierre Elbaz  1 , Alain Grimfeld  1 , Fayçal Mouaffak  2
Affiliations

Incidence and outcomes of COVID-19 first wave pandemic in a French nursing home with residents suffering from severe mental illnesses

Kavitha Loganathan et al. Psychiatry Res. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

During the first wave of COVID-19, nearly 50% of France's fatalities occurred in nursing homes. Older people with mental health disorders are considered to be more prone to infections when epidemics arise. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a retrospective descriptive and comparative study of the incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in a cohort of elderly residents with or without severe mental illness (SMI) living in a French nursing home facility. This was done during the first lockdown from March 17th until May 11th, 2020. Our study included 72 participants of 75 residents, of whom 58 contracted COVID-19, 14 developed a severe form requiring hospitalisation, and 14 died. The disease was significantly less frequent in residents with SMI 15(62%) than those without SMI 43 (89.6%). In regression analysis, a higher level of autonomy was significantly associated with a lower disease incidence. Once contracted, residents with or without SMI differed significantly neither on morbidity nor mortality. The period of survival did not either significantly differ between the two groups. As a potential explanation, we suggested that pathological social withdrawal added to stigmatisation could have protected SMI residents from contracting the disease.

Keywords: COVID-19; Elderly, Nursing home; Mental illness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors declare No conflict of Interest

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Outbreak Evolution amongst Residents Between March 17th and May 11th 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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