Correspondence
Mental health services inevitably become a major barrier to
access maintenance treatments for
for older adults in China this group.
during the COVID-19 The outbreak of COVID-19 has
raised great challenges for mental
outbreak health services for older adults in
Over the past several weeks, the total the community. There seems to be Published Online
number of patients with 2019 novel insufficient and inadequate attention February 18, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1016/
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and paid to this vulnerable population S2215-0366(20)30079-1
the number of associated deaths in the recently established crisis
has been increasing. Of the deaths psychological services in China.
caused by COVID-19, most were Stakeholders and health policy makers
older adults.1 China has the largest should collaborate to resolve this
ageing population globally. In 2017, barrier in order to provide high-quality,
there were 241 million older adults timely crisis psychological services to
(>60 years) nationwide, accounting community-dwelling older adults.
for 17·3% of the total population,2 The authors declare no competing interests. YY, WL,
of whom around half were empty- QZ, and LZ contributed equally.
nest elderly (ie, without children, Yuan Yang, Wen Li, Qinge Zhang,
or whose children left home and Ling Zhang, Teris Cheung,
worked elsewhere) with little social *Yu-Tao Xiang
support. More than 30 million people ytxiang@um.edu.mo
were older than 80 years, and more Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational
than 40 million required long-term Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences (YY, WL, Y-TX),
care due to disabilities.2,3 Mental and Center for Cognition and Brain Sciences (YY, WL,
Y-TX), University of Macau, Macau Special
health problems are common in Administrative Region, China; Department of
older Chinese adults (ie, ≥55 years), Psychiatry, Southern Medical University Nanfang
with the prevalence of depressive Hospital and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau
Greater Bay Area Center for Brian Science and
symptoms reported to be 23·6% in this
Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Guangdong, China (YY);
population.4 The rapid transmission of The National Clinical Research Center for Mental
the severe acute respiratory syndrome Disorders and Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental
corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and high Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital and
The Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain
death rate could exacerbate the risk of Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing,
mental health problems and worsen China (QZ, LZ); and School of Nursing, Hong Kong
existing psychiatric symptoms, further Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, China (TC)
impairing their daily functioning and
1 Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, et al. Early transmission
cognition. dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel
Public transport in many regions coronavirus-infected pneumonia. N Engl J Med
2020; published online Jan 29. DOI:10.1056/
has been suspended to lower the risk NEJMoa2001316.
of disease transmission; thus, online 2 Liu YL, YL. China’s aging population: from a
mental health services have been global perspective (in Chinese). Beijing: Social
Sciences Acadeimc Press, 2019.
widely adopted.5 Older adults have 3 National Health Commission of the People’s
limited access to internet services Republic of China. Report on the family
and smart phones, and as such only development in China, 2015 (in Chinese).
Beijing: Social Sciences Acadeimc Press, 2015.
a small fraction of older adults can 4 Li D, Zhang DJ, Shao JJ, Qi XD, Tian L.
benefit from such service provision. A meta-analysis of the prevalence of
depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults.
In addition, in most areas of China, Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2014; 58: 1–9.
clinically stable older adults with 5 Liu S, Yang L, Zhang C, et al. Mental health care
psychiatric disorders or their guardians in China during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Lancet Psychiatry 2020; published online Feb 20.
usually need to visit psychiatric https://doi.org/10.1016/
outpatient clinics monthly to obtain S2215-0366(20)30077-8.
the maintenance medications.
The current mass quarantines and
restrictions to public transport have
www.thelancet.com/psychiatry Vol 7 April 2020 e19
