Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in a Mexican Long-term Care Facility During a COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

Objective: The Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has greatly affected long-term care facilities worldwide. In Mexico, there are no studies that assess the impact between COVID-19 and the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). This article aims to investigate the effect on the geriatric assessment before and after COVID-19 infection had in residents of a long-term care facility, as well as the factors that influenced the virus transmission and its associated mortality. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study that included 90 older adults during an outbreak of COVID-19 in a long-term care facility in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Participants’ geriatric assessments were designed using their history records, comorbidities and Barthel index, Folstein’s mini-mental state examination, geriatric depression scale, mini nutritional assessment, and polypharmacy. Results: When comparing the CGA before and after the COVID-19, Barthel index median was 90 vs 57.7 (p=0.001), the mini-mental state examination median was 23 vs 19 (p=0.001), the geriatric depression scale median was 4 vs 5 (p=0.007), the weight mean was 59.63 vs 56.95 (p=0.001), the body mass index mean was 23.9 vs 23.19 (p=0.009), and the mini nutritional assessment median was 23 vs 21.5 (p=0.001). Mortality in positive residents of COVID-19 was significantly higher in those with a polypharmacy >8 and mini-mental state examination