Effects of Comorbidities on the Elderly Patients with COVID 19: Clinical Characteristics of Elderly Patients Infected with COVID 19 from Sichuan, China
Objectives The co occurrence of chronic diseases in the elderly is a common problem. However, the relationship between comorbidities and the prognosis of elderly patients with COVID 19 was not clear. This study was supposed to describe the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with COVID 19 infection from Sichuan province and the effects of comorbidity. Design A retrospective study. Settings and participants COVID 19 patients from Public Health Clinical Center of Chengdu between December 16, 2019 and February 26, 2020 were included in this study. Patients were divided into elderly group =60 years old) and non elderly group 60 years old) Results Elderly patients with COVID 19 indicated relatively higher proportion of comorbidities, and the most common were atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (56.5% hypertension (43.5% and chronic pulmonary disease (21.7% The proportion of severe cases was higher in elderly group than that in non elderly group (73.9% and 42.2% respectively, P=0.012) During hospitalization, elderly patients indicated relatively higher proportion of complications, such as shock (21.7% respiratory failure (21.7% The proportion of patients with a decreased number of CD8+ lymphocytes (82.6% and B lymphocytes (77.8% in elderly patients was significantly higher than that in non elderly group (48.9% and 44.8% respectively) All 3 deaths were elderly patients with comorbidities and the cell counts of T lymphocyte subsets, B and NK cells of them were significantly decreased at admission. Conclusions Elderly patients with COVID 19 had a high proportion of severe cases and comorbidities, more likely to show low immune function, and indicate higher proportion of complications.
The journal of nutrition, health aging