NNWN/30/10/20

Older people living with or in close contact with people of working age may be at higher risk of COVID-19 mortality in Stockholm, Sweden, according to an observational study published today in The Lancet Healthy Longevity journal.

The researchers highlight that the study focuses on Sweden, where oOldnly the frailest older people tend to live in care homes and where lockdown was never formally implemented but which relied on people adhering to social distancing recommendations, and therefore the findings may not apply other countries. However, experts commenting on the study warn that it provides a clear example of the impact on elderly people when community transmission is not part of a control strategy.

Maria Brandén, of Linköping University, Sweden, and lead author of the study, said: “Our findings confirm that in areas of the community where there are high numbers of COVID-19 infections, there are high mortality rates among the elderly and that elderly people are more at risk of dying from COVID-19 if they live in a care home or with family members who are working age.”

She adds: “Controlling community transmission is key in protecting everyone in this pandemic. Neighbourhood transmission is an important consideration for COVID-19 even if older people can and do self-isolate, because many of them will come into contact with working age people at some point. Close exposure to working age-individuals in the form of care workers or other household members puts older people at risk, so strategies to protect these people must be explored, with particular attention to densely populated areas.” In this first of its kind study, individual patient data was used to evaluate how residential context was related to COVID-19 mortality among older adults in Stockholm, Sweden.

In the observational study, researchers used data from the cause-of-death register held by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare to identify COVID-19 mortality, and mortality from other causes among people aged 70 years and over in Stockholm between 12 March and 8 May 2020.