Health, functioning and social engagement among older people living in long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 lockdown in Finland: a register-based cohort study

The COVID-19 lockdown was not observably associated with deterioration in health, cognitive or ADL functioning, or social engagement among Finnish LTCF residents. However, subgroup analyses suggested that the effects of the lockdown were the most detrimental among the most severely cognitively impaired and the oldest residents. The vulnerability between different subgroups should be considered more closely in exceptional circumstances due to infectious diseases in the future and provide deliberately older people the opportunity to experience the physical closeness of their loved ones despite possible infections.