Predictors of mortality in hospitalized elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia: A three-year retrospective clinical evaluation

Abstract

Background/Objective: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the common causes of hospitalization in the elderly. This study aimed to investigate the clinical findings and the underlying risk factors of mortality in elderly hospitalized patients with CAP. Methods The research population consisted of all patients with CAP, aged 60-year-old or over and admitted to a tertiary hospital within three years. Questionnaires were filled out to record patients' personal information, clinical data, and related findings from their medical records. Results In this cross-sectional study, 90 hospitalized patients were included with a mean age of 73.04 ± 12.32. Coughing was the most prevalent clinical sign in 76.7% of admitted patients. The most common underlying diseases were diabetes (47.8%) and cardiovascular diseases (42.2%). The result of the present study showed that the mortality rate in hospitalized patients with CAP is correlated with age ≥ 65 years (odd ratio (OR) = 6.51), O2 saturation < 90% OR = 8.61, glucose ≥ 250 mg/dL (OR = 9.83), ALT > 58 or AST > 38 U/L (OR = 6.8), serum albumin < 2.2 mg/dL (OR = 6.62), and rise in WBC count > 13,000/mm3 (OR = 7.14), respectively. Conclusion Our results suggested that age over 65 years, low O2 saturation, high blood glucose, elevated liver enzymes, low serum albumin, and rise in WBC count are the main clinical factors of mortality in elderly hospitalized patients with CAP. Future studies should seek the impact of these clinical findings and risk factors of CAP in early treatment, the costs of treatment, and the mortality rate.