Mortality Risk Factors Among Hospitalized Older Patients With COVID-19

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease with a high mortality rate among older people.

The current study aims to investigate the death rate and related factors among hospitalized older patients with COVID-19 in Qazvin, Iran.

In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, 430 older inpatients with COVID-19 (Mean±SD age: 72.83±8.81) admitted to two hospitals in Qazvin, Iran were randomly selected. Their information was extracted from their electronic health records. Independent t-test, chi-square test, and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used for the data analysis.

Hypertension (n=234, 54.4%), diabetes mellitus (n=148, 34.4%), and cardiovascular diseases (n=127, 29.4%) were the most prevalent comorbidities. Dyspnea (n=300, 69.8%), cough (n=232, 54.0%), fever (n=186, 43.3%), and general malaise (n=168, 39.1%) were the most frequent clinical symptoms. There was in-hospital mortality in 108 (25.1%) older inpatients. Multivariate regression results showed that the risk of in-hospital death was significantly related to the inpatients’ age (OR=1.037, 95%CI=1.007-1.068), white blood cell count (OR=1.187, 95%CI=1.114-1.264), hemoglobin level (OR=0.812, 95%CI=0.720-0.914), platelet count (OR=0.993, 95%CI=0.989-0.996), and oxygen saturation level (OR=0.950, 95%CI=0.967-0.932) at the time of admission.

Older age, white blood cell count, hemoglobin level, oxygen saturation level, and platelet count are predictors of death among older inpatients with COVID-19. Identification of these risk factors can assist the healthcare providers for timely intervention for the prevention of death.