Background: Worldwide, chronic diseases are prevalent among the older adults, significantly affecting their health and healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges, disrupting healthcare services. Our study assesses the impact on older individuals with chronic diseases who were not infected with COVID-19, analyzing comorbidities, medication use, mortality rates, and resource utilization using real data from Aragon, Spain.
Methods: A retrospective observational study, conducted in Aragon, Spain, focused on individuals aged 75 and older with at least one chronic disease, who were not infected of COVID-19. The research used actual data collected during three distinct periods: the first covered the six months prior to the pandemic, the second the six months after the lockdown, and the third the period between six and twelve months. Key variables included socio-demographics, comorbidities, clinical parameters, medication use, and health services utilization.
Results: We included 128.130 older adults. Mean age was 82.88 years, with 60.3% being women. The most common chronic diseases were hypertension (73.2%), dyslipidemia (52.5%), and dorsopathies (31.5%). More than 90% had more than 2 conditions. A notable decline in new chronic disease diagnoses was observed, particularly pronounced in the six to twelve months period after lockdown. Although statistically significant differences were observed in all clinical variables analyzed, they were considered clinically irrelevant. Furthermore, a decrease in healthcare services utilization and medication prescriptions was reported.
Conclusion: Our study highlights a decrease in new chronic disease diagnoses, ongoing reductions in healthcare utilization, and medication prescriptions for older adults with pre-existing chronic conditions, unaffected by COVID-19.



中文翻译：

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大流行第一年老年慢性病患者的健康结果

背景：在世界范围内，慢性病在老年人中普遍存在，严重影响他们的健康和医疗保健系统。COVID-19 大流行加剧了这些挑战，扰乱了医疗保健服务。我们的研究评估了对未感染 COVID-19 的患有慢性病的老年人的影响，并使用西班牙阿拉贡的真实数据分析了合并症、药物使用、死亡率和资源利用率。
方法：在西班牙阿拉贡进行的一项回顾性观察研究，重点关注患有至少一种慢性病且未感染 COVID-19 的 75 岁及以上个体。该研究使用了在三个不同时期收集的实际数据：第一个涵盖了大流行前的六个月，第二个涵盖了封锁后的六个月，第三个涵盖了六到十二个月的时期。关键变量包括社会人口统计、合并症、临床参数、药物使用和卫生服务利用。
结果：我们纳入了 128,130 名老年人。平均年龄为82.88岁，其中60.3%为女性。最常见的慢性病是高血压（73.2%）、血脂异常（52.5%）和背部疾病（31.5%）。超过90%的人有2种以上的病症。新发慢性病诊断数量显着下降，尤其是在封锁后的六至十二个月内。尽管在分析的所有临床变量中观察到统计学显着差异，但它们被认为与临床无关。此外，据报道，医疗保健服务利用率和药物处方有所减少。
结论：我们的研究强调了新的慢性病诊​​断数量的减少、医疗保健利用率的持续减少以及患有既往慢性病的老年人的药物处方的减少，而不受 COVID-19 的影响。