On April 12, 2023, the World Health Organization reported 762,791,152 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,897,025 deaths. Risks and outcomes vary by age and sex. Age differences in the severity of COVID-19 infections and fatalities are attributable to epigenetic dysregulation, immune defects, advanced biological age, and other factors that raise the risk of cytokine storm that lead to death, and comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity increase the chances of fatality. Sex differences are likely due to a combination of biological and social determinants of health, including structural and systemic inequities.

As with past pandemics, it is important to distinguish between the effects of infection and the ways in which people are affected by the condition. Whereas women may be at lower risk of dying from COVID-19, in addition to increased risk of long COVID, they have borne and will continue to bear the brunt of social and economic consequences of the disease. The pandemic has led to tremendous suffering for older adults and their families and communities worldwide. With growing signs of endemicity, it is time to identify, evaluate and attempt to anticipate and rectify the inequities COVID-19 has created and worsened for older women worldwide. Possible areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to, the following topics, either separately or in concert with one another:

- Ageism and human rights

- Ethical issues

- Economic insecurity

- Health effects, e.g., lifestyle behavior changes, health literacy; long COVID, and voluntary and involuntary disruptions in health care.

- Mental and emotional distress

- Social isolation and loneliness

- Changes in living arrangements

- Institutional settings, e.g., long-term care, prisons, and immigrant, refugee camps.

- Increased unpaid domestic care and family caregiving

-Technology for information, education, and socialization

- Workforce issues, including retired women re-entering the workforce

- Violence against women and elder abuse

- Death, dying, grief and bereavement

- Structural and systemic inequities, e.g., oldest-old; minoritized racial/ethnic and sexual/gender groups, immigrants and refugees, persons in rural or remote areas; the poor; and older women at the intersections of these and other marginalized statuses

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Frontiers in Global Women's Health

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Impact