Population Health Research Brief Series

Abstract

Physical distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of older adults. Older adults experiencing dementia and other forms of cognitive decline have impaired executive functioning that made it even more difficult to contend with these disruptions. This brief presents findings from research that used data from the 2021 Health and Retirement Study to examine differences in health care delays and health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic among a nationally representative sample of U.S. older adults (ages 50+) with versus without cognitive decline. Results show that most older adults did not delay getting health care and did not experience poor health outcomes due to delayed care. Moreover, older adults with cognitive decline were less likely than other older adults to experience delays in getting health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when older adults with cognitive decline did experience health care delays, those delays were associated with worse health outcomes compared to older adults without cognitive decline.