Utility of hospitalization for elderly individuals affected by COVID-19

Abstract

Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of individuals needing hospital admission has sometimes exceeded the availability of hospital beds. Since hospitalization can have detrimental effects on older individuals, preference has been given to younger patients. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of hospitalization for elderly affected by COVID-19. We hypothesized that their mortality decreases when there is greater access to hospitals. Methods This study examined 1902 COVID-19 patients consecutively admitted to three large hospitals in Milan, Italy. Overall mortality data for Milan from the same period was retrieved. Based on emergency department (ED) data, both peak and off-peak phases were identified. The percentage of elderly patients admitted to EDs during these two phases were compared by calculating the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of the individuals younger than, versus older than, 80 years. Results The median age of the patients hospitalized during the peak phase was lower than the median age during the off-peak phase (64 vs. 75 years, respectively; p <0.001). However, while the SMR for the younger patients was lower during the off-peak phase (1.98, 95% CI: 1.72–2.29 versus 1.40, 95% CI: 1.25–1.58, respectively), the SMR was similar between both phases for the elderly patients (2.28, 95% CI: 2.07–2.52 versus 2.48, 95% CI: 2.32–2.65, respectively). Conclusions Greater access to hospitals during an off-peak phase did not affect the mortality rate of COVID-19-positive elderly patients in Milan. This finding, if confirmed in other settings, should influence future decisions regarding resource management of health care organizations.

Improvements throughout the Three Waves of COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from 4 Million Inhabitants of North-West Italy

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Utilization of health services among the elderly in Iran during the COVID‐19 outbreak: A cross‐sectional study

“…24 Studies in most countries showed a significant decrease in the use of different health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Sing and colleagues conducted a qualitative study to examine community perceptions of COVID-19 and their experiences towards health services utilization during the pandemic in Nepal. Their study showed that some factors such as public fear and anxiety of COVID-19, transportation disruptions, unavailability T A B L E 1 Demographic and socioeconomic profile of participants and their association with service utilization pandemic.…”

Multi-Sensor Wearable Health Device Framework for Real-Time Monitoring of Elderly Patients Using a Mobile Application and High-Resolution Parameter Estimation

“…Such automatized digital health solutions allow real-time 24/7 health monitoring of patients, prioritizing medical treatment according to the patients' health conditions, reducing medical appointments in clinics and hospitals, by sharing secure information among healthcare professionals. This is especially of interest when treating the elderly, as they are at greater risk in hospital environments as concluded in Costantino et al (2021). Therefore, the framework presented in this paper can enable fewer hospital admissions of elderly people while closely monitoring their health and prioritizing more severe cases.…”