More seniors may have become homebound during COVID-19, study saysThe number of older adults who are homebound (leaving home once a week or less) increased in 2020 over the prior decade, according to a research letter yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The researchers say that this could affect social, psychological, and physical needs because of factors such as physical distancing and caretaker or telehealth access.The data used survey responses from the US National Health and Aging Trends Study from May 1, 2011, to Oct 31, 2020, which included 10,785 people 70 and older observed an average of 4.6 times.
The prevalence of homebound adults ages 70 to 75 years more than doubled, from approximately 5.0% (1.6 million) from 2011 to 2019 to