Factors Associated with COVID-19 Mortality in Elderly Patients in Intensive Care Unit

Year 2023, , 117 - 122, 29.10.2023

Hüseyin Özkarakaş , İsmail Demir

https://doi.org/10.56016/dahudermj.1356852

Abstract

Objectives: Mortality rates in patients with COVID-19 infection admitted to the intensive care unit are influenced by various factors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mortality rate and factors affecting mortality in patients admitted to the intensive care unit due to COVID-19 infection who had not been vaccinated.
Methods: Our study was conducted retrospectively by scanning patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Izmir Bozyaka Education and Research Hospital of Health Sciences University from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2022. Patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit were 65 years of age and older with COVID-19 infection. The patients' presenting complaints, degree of lung involvement, laboratory findings, and comorbidities were compared between patients who survived and those who passed away.
Results: A total of 166 patients were evaluated in our study. Of these, 48 patients were discharged, while 118 patients experienced an excitus. The median age (IQR) for discharged patients was 71.5 (8), and for patients who experienced an excitus, it was 78 (15), which was found to be statistically significant (p <0.001). The most common presenting complaint in all patients was high fever. Patients with two or more comorbidities were more common in the excitus group (p <0.001). Severe involvement on initial computed tomography was observed in 28 patients in the excitus group, while no severe involvement was seen in the discharged group (p <0.001).
Conclusion: Our study found that advanced age, extensive lung involvement at admission, the presence of two or more comorbidities, and the presence of dyspnea at admission were associated with increased mortality in elderly patients.

Keywords

Covid-19, Elderly patients, Mortality

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