Double Lockdown: Unravelling the Impact of Age-targeted COVID-19 Restrictions on Senior Women’s Health

The emergence of COVID-19 required the Turkish government to implement various measures. Given a specific focus on the elderly as the high-risk population, seniors above 65 were imposed a strict curfew for a prolonged period. While social distancing measures are crucial for curbing the transmission, their unintended consequences, particularly on vulnerable populations, require exploration. This paper aims to analyse how those age-targeted restrictions affected the chronic health conditions of seniors, with a special focus on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases which are the main factors of mortality (e.g., coronary heart disease, chest pain, diabetes, obesity, etc). To address the potential bias arising from gender-specific mortality rates due to the pandemic, we focus exclusively on senior women. Employing a difference-in-differences (DiD) methodology, our results indicate that strict curfew on the elderly cause an escalation in chronic health problems. Morbidity of coronary heart diseases is notably higher among the affected women. In addition, they experience a significant increase in BMI and become more physically and mentally dependent in their daily lives. Highlighting the potential adverse effects of curfews on senior health, we emphasise the need for a more balanced strategy that prioritises both the control of the pandemic and the well-being of high-risk populations.