COVID-19 in the elderly: Clinical Features and impact on Mental Health

Abstract

The purpose of this review was to analyze the existing literature in order to identify the main aspects of the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, as well as its impact on the mental health of the elderly and its relationship with mortality in this population at risk. The information from articles in electronic journals was reviewed through the Pubmed, Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar databases for the period July 2020 to June 2021. Among the relevant aspects, alarming data were found, patients with comorbidities in this age group were 6 times more likely to be hospitalized and 12 times more likely to die than a person without comorbidities. Mental health is an important factor in this pandemic, deterioration in general condition and mental illnesses due to anxiety and social isolation secondary to the pandemic have been demonstrated in this group.