An excessive number of deaths due to dementia have occurred since shelter-in-place orders began to go into effect this spring, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data. The excess mortality is tied to isolation and loneliness, the news outlet found.
More than 134,000 people have died from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia since March — about 13,000 more than during the same time in previous years, the analysis revealed. Healthcare providers said they’ve seen swift declines in health firsthand. Previously stable patients with dementia have experienced “sudden frailty” along with increases in falls, pulmonary infections and depression, doctors told a Post investigator.
The loss of interaction and caregiving that residents’ families provide to nursing home residents is significant, Alzheimer’s expert Jason Karlawish, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, said.
“If you think of Alzheimer’s as a disability, family members are almost like a cognitive wheelchair for patients who have lost part of their mind. They’re essential,” he told the news outlet.
“Social and mental stimulation are among the few tools that can slow the march of dementia,” wrote reporter William Wan. “Yet even as U.S. leaders have rushed to reopen universities, bowling alleys and malls, nursing homes say they continue begging in vain for sufficient testing, protective equipment and help.”
Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday issued new guidance to help facilitate increased nursing home visitations, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News reported. The agency is now encouraging outdoor visits, and has set up a framework for allowing more indoor visitations within a strict set of parameters.
State survey directors were informed that visitations can be made for more than pure end-of-life reasons, and communal dining and activities may begin taking place as long as six-foot distancing and other precautions are observed, wrote McKnight’s Danielle Brown.
More details on CMS’s new visitation guidance can be found here.
