Evaluation of Clinical and Laboratory Findings of Patients with COVID-19
Over 50 Years Old: A Retrospective Study
Abstract
Background: Individuals of any age can acquire SARS-CoV-2 infection,
although adults of middle age and older are most commonly affected, and
older adults are more likely to have severe disease. Therefore, the
management of patients with COVID-19 over the age of 50 is very
important. Aims: In this study, we aimed to investigate the
epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory findings of COVID-19 patients
over the age of 50 in a tertiary education and research hospital. Study
Design: Single-center retrospective cross-sectional study. Methods:
Patients older than 50 years of age who applied to the emergency service
with suspected COVID-19 and had positive nasopharyngeal PCR were
included in the study. The patients were divided into 3 groups according
to their ages (50-64 years, 65-79 years, and 80 years and over,
respectively). Demographic characteristics of the patients such as age,
gender, admission symptoms, clinical findings, laboratory results,
imaging results, and hospital follow-up periods were recorded. Results:
A total of 119 patients were included in the study. Seventy-five
patients were 50-64 years old (63.02%), 31 patients were 65-79 years
(26.05%), and 13 patients were over 80 years old (10.9%). It was
observed that fever and respiratory distress gradually increased with
age (p = 0.019, p = 0.029). Considering the laboratory values between
the groups, statistically significant differences were found in terms of
anemia (p ˂ 0.05), lymphopenia (p ˂ 0.05), and the neutrophil/lymphocyte
ratio (p = 0.009). Positive computed tomography findings were detected
in 88 (73.9%) cases. The rates of service and intensive care
hospitalization increased with age and were highest in patients over the
age of 80 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Age is an important risk
factor in COVID-19 disease. In COVID-19 disease, special protocols
should be established for elderly patients and studies involving larger
patient samples should be conducted.