Clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
BMC Geriatr
; 21(1): 321, 2021 05 19.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1236541
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Few studies have focused on exploring the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in older patients. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to have a better understanding of the clinical characteristics of older COVID-19 patients.METHODS:
A systematic search of PubMed and Scopus was performed from December 2019 to May 3rd, 2020. Observational studies including older adults (age ≥ 60 years) with COVID-19 infection and reporting clinical characteristics or outcome were included. Primary outcome was assessing weighted pooled prevalence (WPP) of severity and outcomes. Secondary outcomes were clinical features including comorbidities and need of respiratory support.RESULT:
Forty-six studies with 13,624 older patients were included. Severe infection was seen in 51% (95% CI- 36-65%, I2-95%) patients while 22% (95% CI- 16-28%, I2-88%) were critically ill. Overall, 11% (95% CI- 5-21%, I2-98%) patients died. The common comorbidities were hypertension (48, 95% CI- 36-60% I2-92%), diabetes mellitus (22, 95% CI- 13-32%, I2-86%) and cardiovascular disease (19, 95% CI - 11-28%, I2-85%). Common symptoms were fever (83, 95% CI- 66-97%, I2-91%), cough (60, 95% CI- 50-70%, I2-71%) and dyspnoea (42, 95% CI- 19-67%, I2-94%). Overall, 84% (95% CI- 60-100%, I2-81%) required oxygen support and 21% (95% CI- 0-49%, I2-91%) required mechanical ventilation. Majority of studies had medium to high risk of bias and overall quality of evidence was low for all outcomes.CONCLUSION:
Approximately half of older patients with COVID-19 have severe infection, one in five are critically ill and one in ten die. More high-quality evidence is needed to study outcomes in this vulnerable patient population and factors affecting these outcomes.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Geriatr
Journal subject:
Geriatrics
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12877-021-02261-3
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