The aftermath of the Covid virus, with enduring effects on older adults, resulted in prolonged dependence on nursing home staff.
Older patients in nursing homes who survived Covid declined rapidly and for a much longer period for activities of daily living (ADL) and brain function, putting extra pressure on nursing home staff and resources, according to a recent study conducted by researchers from Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s academic medical center.
“Nursing home residents who had had Covid-19 experienced new decline in their function and needed substantially more help with daily activities after their acute infection period, lasting for months,” said lead researcher Lona Mody, interim chief of the division of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the U-M Medical School. “This places an even greater burden on nursing home staff, who are already stretched thin.”
The research involved a detailed analysis comparing nursing home residents who had experienced Covid-19 with a similar group that had not. Conducted at two nursing homes in Michigan, the study observed the physical and mental functioning of these groups for up to a year.
A total of 171 residents were included in the analysis, comprising 90 Covid-19 positive and 81 non-COVID residents. The study utilized the Minimum Data Sets (MDS) to track changes in functional dependence and cognitive function.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in November, indicate that, on average, survivors of Covid-19 in nursing homes exhibited effects that persisted for approximately nine months. Additionally, the study observed a 30% mortality rate among those with confirmed cases of Covid-19 during the follow-up period, which was more than double the percentage in the comparison group.
“Before the pandemic, the two groups scored about the same on both their need for help with activities of daily living, or ADL, and their cognitive status,” said researcher Sophie Clark, U-M geriatrics fellow. “But the patients who tested positive for Covid showed a sudden decline in both measurements that lasted long after their infection.”
The data was collected from two Michigan nursing homes, and centered on residents who lived there between 2019 and 2022.
The measures taken to protect nursing home residents from Covid infections in 2020 and 2021, including reducing visitors and social activities, may be partly to blame for the overall decline in both groups, the researchers noted.
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