Association between frailty status, multimorbidity and patient demographics, and changes in primary care since the COVID-19 pandemic

Healthcare access was restricted and many physicians switched to temporarily providing virtual care during the pandemic. This led to questions regarding possible changes in the primary care of older adults living with chronic conditions or frailty, and where efforts should be focused post-pandemic. After successful defence of her thesis, Shireen Fikree (MSc) and her supervisor Dr. Michelle Howard are now working on publishing the results of the retrospective cohort study, “The Association Between Frailty Status, Multimorbidity, and Patient Demographics, and Changes in Primary Care Since the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The purpose of the study was to understand whether the pandemic has impacted the management of older adults in terms of care modality, volume of encounters overall, and for anxiety/depression. It also aimed to identify which patients comparatively experienced greater changes in the frequency of routine preventive care and monitoring activities.