On Covid-19 and mental health: An observational study on depression, anxiety, and loneliness during the second lockdown in patients with Alzheimer disease

While visiting and socialization restrictions during lockdowns were instituted to cope with the Covid-19 spread and to prolong the life of residents of retirement homes, these measures could have been expected to decrease the quality of life of their residents. We assessed longitudinal effects of the two successive lockdowns, as implemented in France, on mental health (i.e., depression, anxiety, and loneliness) in 62 retirement home residents with Alzheimer disease (AD). Analysis demonstrated higher levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness during the second lockdown than during the first lockdown. The increased levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness during the second lockdown can be attributed to the longer duration of the restrictive measures, especially the restriction of visits, that were implemented in retirement homes. In addition, the increased workload of geriatric healthcare workers leading to higher levels of burnout and decreased quality of care may help explain the increased loneliness, depression, and anxiety of retirement home residents with AD, which were observed during the second Covid-19 era lockdown.