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. 2022 Oct-Dec;38(4):270-276.
doi: 10.1097/TGR.0000000000000374. Epub 2022 Oct 22.

Investigation of the Effects of COVID-19 on Perception, Attention, Memory, Balance, and Quality of Life in the Elderly

Zehra Aydoğan  1 , Banu Baş  1 , Songül Aksoy  1
Affiliations

Investigation of the Effects of COVID-19 on Perception, Attention, Memory, Balance, and Quality of Life in the Elderly

Zehra Aydoğan et al. Top Geriatr Rehabil. 2022 Oct-Dec.

Abstract

This study was conducted with elderly individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on balance, perception, attention, memory, and quality of life and produce rehabilitative solutions for these problems.

Material and method: A total of 45 volunteers older than 65 years who had not had COVID-19 were included in group 1. A total of 45 volunteers older than 65 years who had recovered from COVID-19 were included in group 2 (elderly people who have had COVID-19 at least 6 months ago). After obtaining the individuals' demographic data, we conducted vestibular assessment for balance and administered the Stroop test for attention, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the digit span test for short-term memory, and a quality-of-life test.

Results: Mean age of the individuals who had had COVID-19 was 68.24 ± 3.32 years, and the mean age of the individuals who had not had COVID-19 was 68.55 ± 3.34 years. There were statistically significant correlations between the two groups for the Stroop test (P < .05), MMSE (P < .05), the digit span test for perception and attention (P < .05), and the vestibular assessment quality-of-life test (P < .01). Sensory (P < .001), past, present, and future activities (P < .05), social participation (P < .001), and death (P < .05) were found to be significant in the total score (P < .001). The covariance analysis of elderly individuals who had had COVID-19 revealed that they performed significantly worse on the balance, perception, attention, memory, and quality-of-life tests than elderly individuals who had not had COVID-19.

Conclusion: The negative effects of COVID-19 were found among elderly individuals older than 65 years. We suggest that telerehabilitation should be developed for elderly people who have recovered from COVID-19 and that its effects investigated.

Keywords: COVID-19; attention; elderly; memory; perception; quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

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