Increased Vulnerability to COVID-19 among the patients with dementia during pandemic

Abstract

Background: The patients with dementia had been drastically affected by COVID pandemic. As the clinical presentation of the illness deteriorates during these situations, there are more behavioral and psychological changes among the patients with dementia. It is more challenging for the caregivers to comply them with the protective safeguard measures. They are not able to comprehend and understand the situation due to memory deterioration. It increases the vulnerability of the patients with dementia for COVID infection. Aim: To assess the COVID related awareness and behavior of the patients with dementia during COVID. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 31 caregivers of patients with dementia. The purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants. The data was collected through a telephonic interview by using an interview schedule consisted of Sociodemographic profile of the patients with dementia, awareness related to COVID and protective measures used by the patients with dementia. Results: The findings of the study had shown that 61.3% of the patients had poor awareness related to COVID-19 with the mean score 6.81± 1.97. More than half of the patients with dementia had less use of protective measures during COVID-19 with the mean score of 10.32± 4.58. The level of awareness of the patients related to COVID-19 and protective measures used by the patient shared a significant strongly positive relationship (r= 0.69) at the significance level of p <0.05. Conclusion: The changing situations during COVID increase the risk of infection in patients with dementia. It worsens the clinical manifestations of the patients. It has created extra responsibilities of their caregivers to comply them with protective measures and to safeguard them. Thus, the attention is given on accessing such vulnerable population, to promote safety measures and providing support to the caregivers.