Efficacy of community groups as a social prescription for senior health-insights from a natural experiment during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Loneliness and associated physical and cognitive health decline among the aging population is an important medical concern, exacerbated in times of abnormal isolation like the 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. In this backdrop, recent "social prescribing" based health policy initiatives such as community groups as a support structure for the aging population assumes great importance. In this paper, we evaluate and quantify the impact of such social prescribing policies in combatting loneliness and related health degeneration of the aging population in times of abnormal isolation.

Financial burden of coronary artery bypass grafting in India: implications for catastrophic health expenditure and healthcare access.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have become a leading cause of mortality in India. High costs of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) impose a financial burden in patients often resulting in catastrophic health expenditure (CHE). CHE and distressed financing have significant microeconomic and macroeconomic implications.