Risk of Mortality in Elderly Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients With Mental Health Disorders: A Nationwide Retrospective Study in South Korea

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.1 As of September 13, 2020, a total of 28,637,952 cases of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, of which 917,417 patients have died.2 According to emerging data, COVID-19 is particularly dangerous for elderly individuals,3 who account for the majority of deaths.4 Mental health disorders could potentially worsen the outcomes. Although there is a significant prevalence of mental health disorders in elderly individuals, especially dementia, no studies have investigated the association between mental health disorders and COVID-19 in this patient population.

Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - September 25, 2020 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Dong Yun Lee, Jaehyeong Cho, Seng Chan You, Rae Woong Park, Chung Soo Kim, Eun Young Lee, Howard Aizenstein, Carmen Andreescu, Helmet Karim, Chang Hyung Hong, Hyun Woong Rho, Bumhee Park, Sang Joon Son Tags: Special Issue Article Source Type: research