Examining the Effect of the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Care Recipients' Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Capacity.
Caitlin McArthur, Andrew Faller-Saunders, Luke A Turcotte and 4 others
PMID 35843290WHAT IT FOUND
Home care recipients assessed during the first pandemic wave were more likely to be judged less able to shop or get around than recipients assessed before it.
Older age and unstable health were linked to greater decline.
Key findings
01The pandemic sample had higher odds of decline in shopping and transportation capacity than the comparison sample.
02In adjusted models, the odds ratio was 1.43 for shopping decline and 1.31 for transportation decline.
03Older age and health instability were associated with higher odds of decline, while receiving formal care was associated with lower odds of shopping decline and receiving informal and formal care with lower odds of transportation decline.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This is an observational comparison of two assessment samples, so it shows an association with the pandemic period, not that the pandemic caused decline. Some pandemic assessments were completed virtually, which may have limited what assessors could observe and made ratings depend more on patient or caregiver reports. The two samples were not identical: the pandemic sample had slightly higher percentages of people with unstable health, cognitive impairment, and no depressive symptoms. Only 13.1% of recipients appeared in both samples, so aging of overlapping people may have affected the comparison. The study excluded people with maximal or total dependence in instrumental activities of daily living and people with severe cognitive impairment, so it does not describe the most dependent clients. Capacity was judged by assessors as what the person might be able to do, not directly measured performance. The 27-item frailty scale used was not validated in other studies.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding statement is included in the supplied article text. The publication types list non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that the pandemic caused clients to lose ability. The study is observational, some pandemic assessments were completed virtually, and the outcome was judged capacity rather than observed performance.