Geriatrics-Focused Risk Factors ID’d for COVID-19 Death

FRIDAY, Oct. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Factors other than age predict mortality in older adults hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study published online Oct. 14 in BMC Geriatrics.

Liron Sinvani, M.D., from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, and colleagues retrospectively analyzed administrative data to identify geriatrics-focused indicators predictive of mortality in hospitalized older adults with COVID-19. The analysis included 4,783 adults (≥65 years) hospitalized with COVID-19 in the greater New York metropolitan area between March 1 and April 20, 2020.

The researchers found that male sex (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.06; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.03 to 1.09); Asian race (aOR, 1.08; 95 percent CI, 1.03 to 1.13); history of chronic kidney disease (aOR, 1.05; 95 percent CI, 1.01 to 1.09) and interstitial lung disease (aOR, 1.35; 95 percent CI, 1.28 to 1.42); low or normal body mass index (aOR, 1.03; 95 percent CI, 1.00 to 1.07); higher comorbidity index (aOR, 1.01; 95 percent CI, 1.01 to 1.02); admission from a facility (aOR, 1.14; 95 percent CI, 1.09 to 1.20); and mechanical ventilation (aOR, 1.52; 95 percent CI,1.43 to 1.62) were associated with mortality. Increasing age (centered at 65 years) interacted with hypertension (aOR, 1.02; 95 percent CI, 0.98 to 1.07, reducing by a factor of 0.96 every 10 years), early do-not-resuscitate order (aOR, 1.38; 95 percent CI, 1.22 to 1.57, reducing by a factor of 0.92 every 10 years), and severe illness on admission (at 65 years, aOR, 1.47; 95 percent CI, 1.40 to 1.54, reducing by a factor of 0.96 every 10 years), even though age was not an independent predictor of mortality.

“Readily available administrative geriatrics-focused indicators that go beyond age can be utilized when considering prognosis,” the authors write.

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