Impact of Social Isolation Due to COVID-19 on Health in Older People: Mental and Physical Effects and Recommendations

OBJECTIVES

To review the impact of social isolation during COVID-19 pandemic on mental and physical health of older people and the recommendations for patients, caregivers and health professionals.

DESIGN

Narrative review.

SETTING

Non-institutionalized community-living people.

PARTICIPANTS

20.069 individuals from ten descriptive cross-sectional papers.

MEASUREMENTS

Articles since 2019 to 2020 published on Pubmed, Scielo and Google Scholar databases with the following MeSh terms ('COVID-19', 'coronavirus', 'aging', 'older people', 'elderly', 'social isolation' and 'quarantine') in English, Spanish or Portuguese were included. The studies not including people over 60 were excluded. Guidelines, recommendations, and update documents from different international organizations related to mental and physical activity were also analysed.

RESULTS

41 documents have been included in this narrative review, involving a total of 20.069 individuals (58% women), from Asia, Europe and America. 31 articles included recommendations and 10 addressed the impact of social distancing on mental or physical health. The main outcomes reported were anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality and physical inactivity during the isolation period. Cognitive strategies and increasing physical activity levels using apps, online videos, telehealth, are the main international recommendations.

CONCLUSION

Mental and physical health in older people are negatively affected during the social distancing for COVID-19. Therefore, a multicomponent program with exercise and psychological strategies are highly recommended for this population during the confinement. Future investigations are necessary in this field.

Effect of prospidine administered at different times of the day on the development and growth of N-nitrosomethylurea-induced mammary tumors in Wistar rats

The chemotherapeutic effectiveness of intraperitoneal administration of prospidine (50 mg/kg per day during the initial 14 days of study) was evaluated, on a circadian basis, on the N-nitrosomethylurea (NMU)-induced mammary tumors in female rats. Untreated rats showed a progressive increase in the mean tumor area and total tumor area/rat. At the end of treatment the average tumor area and total tumor area/rat in the animals treated at 0800, 1400 and 2000 h were significantly lower than the values in the control group by week 2. By weeks 3 and 4 the mean tumor area and total tumor area in all groups of treated rats were significantly lower than those in the untreated animals. The mean tumor area by weeks 5 and 6 in the animals treated at 0800 h were significantly lower than in the group treated at 0200 h, and the mean value by week 6 in the group treated at 1400 h was significantly lower than those from the groups treated either at 2000 h or 0200 h. The mean total tumor area/rat in rats treated at 1400 h was, by week 6, significantly lower than in animals treated either at 2000 h or 0200 h. A transient reduction in body weight was registered at the end of prospidine treatment.

[Chronotherapy of breast cancer induced by N-nitrosomethylurea in the rat. I. Effect of a high dose of cyclophosphamide administered at 8:00 and 14:00 hours]

The administration of cyclophosphamide (200 mg/kg) intraperitoneally produces a high mortality in Wistar rats bearing mammary tumors induced by N-methylnitrosourea. The effect is more marked when the drug is administered at 8:00 A.M. than when given at 2:00 P.M. The injection of cyclophosphamide at 2:00 P.M. slowers the tumor growth, the effect being significative after two weeks compared with the control animals, and after four weeks when compared with the animals receiving the drug at 8:00 A.M.