Comparing the Clinical Characteristics and Mortality of Residential and Non-Residential Older People with COVID-19: Retrospective Observational Study

Abstract

Nursing homes have accounted for a significant part of SARS-CoV-2 mortality, causing great social alarm. Using data collected from electronic medical records of 1,319,839 institutionalised and non-institutionalised persons ≥ 65 years, the present study investigated the epidemiology and differential characteristics between these two population groups. Our results showed that the form of presentation of the epidemic outbreak, as well as some risk factors, are different among the elderly institutionalised population with respect to those who are not. In addition to a twenty-fold increase in the rate of adjusted mortality among institutionalised individuals, the peak incidence was delayed by approximately three weeks. Having dementia was shown to be a risk factor for death, and, unlike the non-institutionalised group, neither obesity nor age were shown to be significantly associated with the risk of death among the institutionalised. These differential characteristics should be able to guide the actions to be taken by the health administration in the event of a similar infectious situation among institutionalised elderly people.

Fabrication of novel quantum dots for the estimation of COVID-19 antiviral drug using green chemistry: application to real human plasma

“… 1 Elderly patients more than 65 years are the most vulnerable category of patients, with mortality rates of 6.26 and 3.35% among hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. 2 Even with limited population density in physically isolated islands, this pandemic showed substantial incidence despite tight restrictive measures. 3 Although developed vaccines played an important role to decrease the spread of COVID-19, 4 antiviral medications are still necessary to treat infected patients.…”

Comparative analysis of symptom profile and risk of death associated with infection by SARS‐CoV‐2 and its variants in Hong Kong

“…Third, symptom‐based predictions for death are possible, which guides infection prevention of COVID‐19 in residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs). Though a major surge of severe illnesses in RCHEs may be unlikely under a high vaccine or infection coverage, 32 the delay in seeking medical care among the elderly, 33 the multifold increase in mortality among institutionalized elderly, 34 and the highest number of incidents attributable to RCHEs in the continual recurrent epidemics 7 altogether suggest active syndromic surveillance is needed in RCHEs. Symptoms predictive of severe clinical outcomes can enrich the frailty screening on aged COVID‐19 cases to enable early risk stratification 35 .…”

The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for long term care facilities

“…However, the result has been that staff moving among LTCFs during COVID-19 occasionally and unknowingly have become COVID-19 spreaders both among LTCFs and into the community in general [29,30 ▪ ]. This has contributed to a community-LTCF-community transmission cascade, with LTCFs embedded in high COVID-19 prevalence communities frequently suffering higher infection and mortality rates [19,31 ▪ ,32,33 ▪▪ ].…”