Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on Scotland's care-homes from March 2020 to October 2021: national linked data cohort analysis.
Age Ageing
; 53(2)2024 02 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38342752
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term care residents remains of wide interest, but most analyses focus on the initial wave of infections.OBJECTIVE:
To examine change over time in (i) The size, duration, classification and pattern of care-home outbreaks of COVID-19 and associated mortality and (ii) characteristics associated with an outbreak.DESIGN:
Retrospective observational cohort study using routinely-collected data.SETTING:
All adult care-homes in Scotland (1,092 homes, 41,299 places).METHODS:
Analysis was undertaken at care-home level, over three periods. Period (P)1 01/03/2020-31/08/2020; P2 01/09/2020-31/05/2021 and P3 01/06/2021-31/10/2021. Outcomes were the presence and characteristics of outbreaks and mortality within the care-home. Cluster analysis was used to compare the pattern of outbreaks. Logistic regression examined care-home characteristics associated with outbreaks.RESULTS:
In total 296 (27.1%) care-homes had one outbreak, 220 (20.1%) had two, 91 (8.3%) had three, and 68 (6.2%) had four or more. There were 1,313 outbreaks involving residents 431 outbreaks in P1, 559 in P2 and 323 in P3. The COVID-19 mortality rate per 1,000 beds fell from 45.8 in P1, to 29.3 in P2, and 3.5 in P3. Larger care-homes were much more likely to have an outbreak, but associations between size and outbreaks were weaker in later periods.CONCLUSIONS:
COVID-19 mitigation measures appear to have been beneficial, although the impact on residents remained severe until early 2021. Care-home residents, staff, relatives and providers are critical groups for consideration and involvement in future pandemic planning.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Health context:
4_TD
/
6_ODS3_enfermedades_notrasmisibles
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Age Ageing
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article