TILDA report to inform demographics for over 50s in Ireland for COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

To assist with planning for COVID-19, we have analysed the following to help identify numbers in at-risk cohorts based on extant national and international data for at-risk groups i.e. frailty, pre-frailty; cardiovascular and chronic conditions; comorbidities; possible at-risk CVD and anti-inflammatory medications*; and living/household circumstances (social isolation) including grandparenting, community social care and health service utilisation. We find that 126,300 people aged over 50 live alone, 36,000 of whom are living with an ADL functional disability, and 57,800 are aged over 70 years. In total 16%, equivalent to 234,200, have no children. For the remainder, children live in the same house (26%), in the same county (45%), in another county (9%) or another country (4%). Of those over 70 years, 79,851 are frail (18.9%), 217,101 are pre-frail (50.5%) and 43,448 are living alone (10.8%). Of those over 70 years who are living alone, 12,704 are frail (28.1%) and 18,279 are pre-frail (44.3%). Of those over 50 years, 749,845 have Hypertension, 185,002 have Asthma, 182,833 have Diabetes Mellitus, 167,500 have Cancer past or present, 123,383 have Chronic lung disease such as chronic bronchitis or emphysema, 706,624 have 3 or more comorbidities. Numbers prescribed possible at-risk medications for ACE2 upregulation: ACE inhibitors 247,923; ARB (angiotensin II Antagonist) 218,126; Ibuprofen 15,188. Overall, 9% receive help from a family caregiver, the equivalent of 75,800 people. The majority of these were aged over 70 years (54,500). Overall, 31.5% of the population aged over 50 provide childcare for their grandchildren, with the mean number of hours in the last month being 2.5 hours (interquartile range 1-4), although 9% provided more than 40 hours in the past month. This equates to 352,100 people with 93,000 providing more than 40 hours in the past month.