A longitudinal cohort study on the use of health and care services by older adults living at home with/without dementia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: the HUNT study.
BMC Health Serv Res
; 24(1): 485, 2024 Apr 19.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38641570
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Older adults and people with dementia were anticipated to be particularly unable to use health and care services during the lockdown period following the COVID-19 pandemic. To better prepare for future pandemics, we aimed to investigate whether the use of health and care services changed during the pandemic and whether those at older ages and/or dementia experienced a higher degree of change than that observed by their counterparts.METHODS:
Data from the Norwegian Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT4 70 + , 2017-2019) were linked to two national health registries that have individual-level data on the use of primary and specialist health and care services. A multilevel mixed-effects linear regression model was used to calculate changes in the use of services from 18 months before the lockdown, (12 March 2020) to 18 months after the lockdown.RESULTS:
The study sample included 10,607 participants, 54% were women and 11% had dementia. The mean age was 76 years (SD 5.7, range 68-102 years). A decrease in primary health and care service use, except for contact with general practitioners (GPs), was observed during the lockdown period for people with dementia (p < 0.001) and those aged ≥ 80 years without dementia (p = 0.006), compared to the 6-month period before the lockdown. The use of specialist health services decreased during the lockdown period for all groups (p ≤ 0.011), except for those aged < 80 years with dementia. Service use reached levels comparable to pre-pandemic data within one year after the lockdown.CONCLUSION:
Older adults experienced an immediate reduction in the use of health and care services, other than GP contacts, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within primary care services, people with dementia demonstrated a more pronounced reduction than that observed in people without dementia; otherwise, the variations related to age and dementia status were small. Both groups returned to services levels similar to those during the pre-pandemic period within one year after the lockdown. The increase in GP contacts may indicate a need to reallocate resources to primary health services during future pandemics. TRIAL REGISTRATION The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, with the identification number NCT04792086.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Demencia
/
COVID-19
Límite:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Health Serv Res
Asunto de la revista:
PESQUISA EM SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Noruega