Corona virus and elderly social isolation: A systematic review

The elderly more than others in the society were affected by the corona epidemic. Social isolation as one of the important consequences of corona pandemic, affected the elderly. This review study was performed with aim to investigate studies related to social isolation of the elderly during the corona virus epidemic.

In this systematic review, to find the article entitled elderly social isolation and Covid-19, the articles published in English from the beginning of the Corona virus pandemic to 2021 were searched in databases of Scopus, ISI (web of science), PubMed (Medline), Cochrane Library, and Science direct using MeSH and the keywords of "social isolation", "elderly", "loneliness", "coronavirus", "COVID -19", "SARS COVID -2", "pandemic", "elderly", alone and in combination using the operators AND and OR.

A total of 11 studies related to Covid-19 and social isolation were included in the study. The findings showed that the COVID-19 pandemic and health policies have exacerbated feelings of loneliness and isolation in the elderly. Loneliness and social isolation in the elderly have increased due to the implementation of preventive protocols such as social distance and quarantine.

Attention to approaches which reduce social isolation in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the important interventions that should be considered by government and policy makers to reduce the rate of harm in the elderly and consequently reduce health costs to compensate its side-affects.