COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE MENTAL HEALTH OF ELDERLY

The new type of corona virus (SARS-Cov 2) pandemic, which broke out in Wuhan province of China in December 2019, has spread rapidly in a short time, affected and is still affecting millions of people all over the world. Numerous measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the outbreak, in particular "maintaining social distance". Elderly individuals are vulnerable to COVID-19 due to the aging of their immune systems and concomitant chronic diseases; morbidity and mortality are rather high in this age group, so prevention measures are even of greater importance in older individuals. However, both the pandemic and the infection control measures taken for the pandemic negatively affect the mental health of elderly individuals as well as their physical health. In this review study, it was aimed to examine briefly the effects of pandemics on mental health of the society, to review the studies investigating the effects of outbreaks on the mental health of the elderly, and to make inferences for the future.