Optimum Management of COVID-19 in the Geriatric Population: The Need for a Comprehensive Assessment

摘要

COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic and global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. Mortality rates have varied considerably among countries. According to the current data of WHO, the mortality rate in Turkey appears to be lower compared to Italy (2·4% vs. 13·5%). One of the reasons may be a lower rate of the geriatric population compared to Italy (9·1% vs. 22·8%) and the second reason may be the earlier timing of lockdown for people over 65 years in Turkey. Data indicate that COVID-19 is a certain risk for older adults. In general, the geriatric population is a group individulas are with multiple diseases. Therefore, clinicians are faced with a more complicated picture of not only COVID-19 but also accompanying situations in older adults. Accordingly, it is essential to carry out a comprehensive assessment and manage accompanying problems in an ideal way besides COVID-19. Geriatric syndromes are the most important accompanying conditions, such as malnutrition, delirium, dementia, falls, and frailty, which are highly prevalent, multifactorial, and associated with substantial morbidity and poor outcomes in all clinical settings. Although COVID-19 is known to be presented with fever and symptoms of the respiratory tract, it can only be presented with a new-onset geriatric syndrome as recent studies reported.[1–3] It is called `atypical presentation,` which is very often in older adults in general practice. Common presentations include altered mental state (delirium), failure to eat and drink (malnutrition), failure to develop fever, functional decline, and falls in general aspects. Thus increased attention and comprehensive assessment are required to find out underlying disease, including COVID-19.