Clinico-demographic Features in Middle- and Older-Aged COVID-19 Deceased Patients: A Comparative Study in India

The novel coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the word since late 2019 and caused many deaths among populations. Our aim was to study clinico-demographic features in middle- and older-aged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deceased patients.

The present cross-sectional study was done in the Department of Biochemistry, in collaboration with the Department of Medicine, in a tertiary care hospital in Mumbai, India. The clinico-demographic data of COVID-19 positive deceased patients who died at our centre during the period of April 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 were procured. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was based on reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results. A total of 110 patients were included in the study and categorized according to their age into three groups: (1) young adults (aged 18-35 years), (2) middle-aged adults (aged 36-55 years), and (3) older adults (aged > 55 years), and various clinico-demographic features were evaluated. The Mann-Whitney U test for non-parametric data and unpaired t-test for the parametric data were used for comparisons.

The incidence of COVID-19 was found to be significantly higher in the older age group (P = 0.0001). Diabetes (43.6%) and hypertension (40.9%) were the most common comorbidities present in nearly half of the study population. The median age of the patients died due to COVID-19 was 57.0 years, and there was a higher percentage of men (67.3%) compared to women (32.7%) among the deceased. Clinical and biochemical parameters were compared between middle-aged and older-aged groups. Hypertension and diabetes were significantly higher in the older-aged group compared to the middle-aged group (P < 0.001). No significant difference could be observed in the sign and symptoms and biochemical parameters between these groups.

The clinico-demographic features and mortality in middle-aged and older-aged deceased COVID-19 patients were similar. Close monitoring and early therapeutic interventions in both age groups will help to diminish mortality.