Decisions of state governments and the impacts on health care for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian Northeast

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care policies for older adults gained relevance worldwide. The number of deaths that markedly affected this population needs analyses of its impacts on health care. This study aimed to analyze the relation between COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality patterns in people aged 60 years and older and the implemented prevention and control measures, namely, social distancing and the beginning of specific vaccination against COVID-19 according to states in the Brazilian Northeast from February 2020 to September 2022. This descriptive time series study was based on data from the states in the Brazilian Northeast. Results point to a high pattern of morbidity and mortality in older adults before the COVID-19 pandemic, growing sharply after the onset of the pandemic in all evaluated states. The measures the states in the Brazilian Northeast adopted to combat the pandemic showed a certain homogeneity. The number of hospitalizations increase with the outcome death due to COVID-19, even after strict contingency and distancing measures and the beginning of vaccination. This study found a relevant relationship between sanitary measures of social distancing and vaccination and the reduction of morbidity and mortality in older adults living in the states in the Brazilian Northeast. However, the decisions of Northeastern states failed to mitigate the impact of morbidity and mortality in older adults to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords:
Aged; COVID-19; Pandemic; Mortality; Public Policies