Features of COVID-19 in the Elderly

Abstract

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused havoc across the world over the past three years. The elderly people suffered the most during this unprecedented global public health calamity. The degree of suffering was magnified many fold in the elderly and frail individuals. They experienced atypical clinical disease presentation and developed more severe disease. Morbidity and mortality was also significantly higher in this group. Various risk factors have been identified that explain why older individuals are afflicted disproportionately and why they have an increased need for intensive care. Notably, severity of infections, vaccine-induced immune responses, and long-term outcomes of COVID-19 were also accentuated in the elderly, which have been explored in this review article..