Covid-19 in Swedish eldercare – Is nursing home quality associated with high mortality rates?

Sweden has had a higher rate of covid-19 related mortality than its neighbors, and a large proportion of this mortality has occurred at nursing homes.

While the most important driver of this appears to be the prevalence of covid-19 at large, there are signs that substantial unexplained variation between nursing homes exists.

There is however a lack of detailed knowledge about the degree of variation between nursing homes, and the cause of the differences in covid-19 mortality rates.

The results of international research suggest that many aspects of nursing home quality may drive the spread of and mortality due to covid-19, including nursing home size, staffing ratios, and care routines.

The impact of these aspects of quality on the spread of covid-19 in Swedish nursing home care has however not yet been established due to a lack of suitable data.

The aim of this research project is therefore to evaluate the impact of nursing home quality on covid-19-related mortality rates in Swedish nursing homes.

The project is carried out by compiling a new dataset in study 1 that connects relevant information from different data registers. The dataset will be further developed and used for quantitative analyses in study 2 & 3.

A final qualitative study aims to identify nursing home processes that have been successfully used to avoid the spread of infection and mortality.

It is of utmost importance that the Swedish eldercare system is better prepared to minimize transmission and mortality when the next contagious disease spreads across the world.

By studying the factors which impacted covid-19 mortality rates at Swedish nursing homes, this project contributes valuable knowledge on how to best develop the eldercare system to mitigate the effects of future pandemics.