Background: Older and frail individuals are at high risk of dying from COVID-19, and residents in nursing homes (NHs) are overrepresented in death rates. We explored four different periods during the COVID-19 pandemic to analyze the effects of improved preventive routines and vaccinations, respectively, on mortality in NHs.
Methods: We undertook a population-based systematic retrospective chart review comprising 136 NH facilities in southeast Sweden. All residents, among these facilities, who died within 30 days after a laboratory-verified COVID-19 diagnosis during four separate 92-day periods representing early pandemic (second quarter 2020), middle of the pandemic (fourth quarter 2020), early post-vaccination phase (first quarter 2021), and the following post-vaccination phase (second quarter 2021). Mortality together with electronic chart data on demographic variables, comorbidity, frailty, and cause of death was collected.
Results: The number of deaths during the four periods was 104, 120, 34 and 4, respectively, with a significant reduction in the two post-vaccination periods (P < 0.001). COVID-19 was assessed as the dominant cause of death in 20 (19%), 19 (16%), 4 (12%) and 1 (3%) residents in each period (P < 0.01). The respective median age in the four studied periods varied between 87and 89 years, and three or more diagnoses besides COVID-19 were present in 70-90% of the respective periods' study population. Considerable or severe frailty was found in all residents.
Conclusions: Vaccination against COVID-19 seems associated with a reduced number of deaths in NHs. We could not demonstrate an effect on mortality merely from the protective routines that were undertaken.
Keywords: COVID-19; Vaccination; geriatrics; mortality; nursing homes; primary care.