Clinical Features and Short-Term Outcomes of 114 Elderly Patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A Single-Center, Retrospective, Observational Study

Background: COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease that first reported in China and has spread worldwide. We aimed to explore the clinical variables associated with severity and short-term outcomes of elderly patients with this disease. Methods: In this study, we enrolled patients over 70 years old (yo) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 between January 20 and February 15, 2020 admitted to Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. Epidemiological, demographic, and clinical data were retrospectively collected. The patients were classified into two groups for severity evaluation: severe and non-severe groups, and retrospectively defined into two groups for outcome evaluation based on their health status: deteriorated and improved groups. Findings: One hundred and fourteen patients were included. The most common symptoms were fever, cough, and dyspnea. Patients with severe disease were more often with comorbidity of respiratory disease and with oxygen administrated than patients with non-severe disease. Total case-fatality rate was 23.7%. Multivariate analyses showed that presence of basic respiratory diseases or lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) was independently associated with infection severity. With regards to outcomes, severe and critical types, elevated white blood cell, neutrophil, aspartate aminotransferase, LDH, creatine kinase, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, D-dimmer, and PCT, or decreased lymphocyte, especially those CD3, CD4, CD19, and CD16+CD56 positive T cells were more common in the deteriorated group than the improved groups. Interpretation: The patients over 70 yo with COVID-19 had a high case-fatality rate. Specific comorbidities and laboratory findings may help us evaluating severity and outcomes in elderly patients with COVID-19. Funding Statement: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Declaration of Interests: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed by all authors. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University Ethics Committee and the oral consent was obtained from the patients or their relatives involved before enrollment when data were collected retrospectively.