The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Social Isolation of the Elderly: A Review Article

The outbreak of the Corona disease in 2019 deeply affected the world community in all dimensions. Moreover, based on the recommendation of the World Health Organization, most countries decided to control the spread of Covid-19 by leading people to quarantine and regarding social distance. The main problem of this universal solution was the lack of attention to the mental health of people especially the elderly. The purpose of this article is to review and summarize the findings of studies that examine the impact of covid-19 on the social isolation of the elderly. Furthermore, this study provides strategies to reduce mental and physical harm and it improves the quality of life of the elderly.

Methods and Materials: 

The studies conducted in the field of the impact of social isolation caused by Corona virus pneumonia on the elderly using corona virus, social isolation, mental health, covid-19, epidemic and the elderly keywords in Pubmed, Science direct, Scopus, Google Scholar and Iranian databases such as SID, Iranmedax and Magiran.

The results show that the impact of Covid-19 on mental health is moderate to severe. On the other hand, social isolation in the elderly can lead to increased depression and tendency to suicide, decreased immune response to viral infections, and increased risk of stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and brain deterioration. Therefore, it is important to provide a systemic approach to improve the quality of communication in all individual and social dimensions. In addition, providing these solutions can reduce the stress and anxiety caused by social isolation in the elderly with social supports such as emotional and practical support. Furthermore, educational interventions, maintaining the dignity and respect of the elderly, encouraging the use of Virtual network, and sports are among other things that improve the mental and social health of the elderly in the era of Corona.

Although social isolation is one of the most important measures to deal with the Corona virus, paying attention to mental health and implementing quality and acceptable services in times of crisis is essential especially for the elderly. This issue requires an integrated and interdisciplinary assessment of geriatric specialists. , psychiatrists and physiotherapists in improving the conditions of the elderly.