1 week Ago By Sean Salai
Deaths linked to dementia surged during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and remained elevated the following two years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. In an of death certificate data, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics estimated that the rate of seniors perishing from causes related to memory loss shot up 10.2%, from 520.
1 deaths for every 100,000 people in 2019 to 572.9 in 2020. The rate had been unchanged from 2018 to 2019.
Then, from 2020 to 2022, dementia-related deaths among people 65 and older declined to 548.9 out of every 100,000 people, staying higher than pre-pandemic rates. They included death certificates that flagged vascular dementia, unspecified dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative nervous system diseases.
“It is important to document that dementia deaths increased during the pandemic, as did some other non-COVID causes of death,” Ellen Kramarow, a CDC statistician and lead author of the report, said in an email. “Tracking these death rates can help us describe the changes in health and mortality since 2020.” Ms.
Kramarow said the report didn’t include medical records for the deceased seniors, making it impossible to speculate on the care they received during pandemic restrictions and on complications in the deaths. “Reasons for the increases are likely multifactorial and can be studied further with other sources of data,” she added. Late-stage dementia is a severe neurological condition that weakens the immune system of sufferers, putting them at higher risk of infection as they forget their surroundings and the people around them.
Infections frequently lead to pneumonia, the most common complication in memory-related deaths. Other common complications include deadly falls, malnutrition, strokes and drug or alcohol abuse as the afflicted seniors neglect basic self-care. According to the CDC report, the share of dementia-related deaths occurring at nursing homes or memory-care facilities dropped from 53.
6% in 2018 to 44.6% in 2022. Over the same period, the rate at home rose from 23.
7% to 30.4% of all dementia deaths, declined from 8.2% to 7.
6% in hospitals, and inched up from 6.2% to 6.4% in hospices.
Several health experts reached for comment on the report blamed the isolation of pandemic restrictions for the deadly spike. “This is just another unintended, unforeseen byproduct of a controversial draconian approach to COVID-19,” said Ray Guarendi, a family psychologist based in Canton, Ohio. “The research is overwhelming that mental health is critically attached to interpersonal connections.
Cutting those connections severely and indefinitely can breed complications, sometimes lethal.” From 2019 to 2020, the CDC figures show dementia-related death rates rose 7.1% for men and 11.
8% for women as public health restrictions kept more people home and out of medical facilities. As COVID restrictions eased, dementia death rates for women dropped from 2020 to 2022. They declined for men from 2020 to 2021, but remained stable from 2021 to 2022.
“Dementia death rates were higher for women than men throughout the period,” the report noted. According to experts in elder care, it’s no surprise that elderly Americans suffering from memory problems and unfamiliar with digital technology began dying faster as they wandered around during months of isolation. “Dementia patients need routines, and COVID did not allow daily routines to occur,” said Jennifer Moses, an adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner teaching at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.
“You cannot redirect or contain a demented patient to their room to isolate as you can an alert person.” Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. .
Click to Read More and View Comments Click to Hide.
