This study is now complete and being reviewed for publication

Led by Dr Anto Rajamani, (Clinical associate professor in Old Age Psychiatry in the University of Nottingham, and honorary consultant old age psychiatrist at the Millbrook Mental Health Hospital, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust), this mixed methods study explored the sociodemographic, health, and treatment variables associated with poor clinical outcomes related to COVID-19 among older people with psychiatric illnesses, as well as the perspectives of older people with psychiatric illnesses who have survived COVID-19.

It included a retrospective chart review of 81 older people, who tested positive for COVID-19 during their mental health admissions, and in-depth of interviews of 10 of them. The study has found that Vitamin D deficiency, prescriptions of medications with high anticholinergic activity, and shorter isolation periods within the mental health wards were associated with poor clinical outcomes related to COVID-19 among older people with psychiatric illnesses. It has documented the survivors’ perspectives on personal experience of COVID-19, experience of health services, their coping with COVID-19, and their suggestions for improving existing health services.