Disparities in COVID-19 outcomes among older adults

Editor's Note

In this study led by researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, increased age was found to be the greatest independent risk factor for COVID-19 associated mortality.

Of 7,556 patients included in the analysis, 1,556 died, 949 were admitted to ICU, and 227 had 30-day readmissions.

Independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality were:

• Age, which raised the odds ratio (OR) of in-hospital mortality with increase in age—age  55-64, OR 3.28; age 65-74, OR 4.67; age 75-84, OR10.73; and age 85 and older, OR 20.57.
• Comorbidities, which had an increased OR of in-hospital mortality of 1.11.

Results also showed that older patients and those on Medicaid were less likely to be admitted to the ICU. Race, ethnicity, crowding, population density, and health system census were not associated with outcomes.

Understanding these risk factors can guide decision-making for older patients with COVID-19. The finding that older patients and those admitted from skilled nursing facilities were half as likely to be admitted to the ICU needs further investigation, the authors note.