Abstract
Background: Age, multimorbidity, immunodeficiency and frailty of older people living in nursing homes make them vulnerable to COVID-19 and overall mortality. Objective: To estimate overall and COVID-19 mortality parameters and analyse their predictive factors in older people living in nursing homes over a 2-year period. Method: Design: A 2-year prospective longitudinal multicentre study was conducted between 2020 and 2022. Setting: This study involved five nursing homes in Central Catalonia (Spain). Participants: Residents aged 65 years or older who lived in the nursing homes on a permanent basis. Measurements: Date and causes of deaths were recorded. In addition, sociodemographic and health data were collected. For the effect on mortality, survival curves were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate analysis using Cox regression. Results: The total sample of 125 subjects had a mean age of 85.10 years (standard deviation = 7.3 years). There were 59 (47.2%) deaths at 24 months (95% confidence interval, CI, 38.6–55.9) and 25 (20.0%) were due to COVID-19, mostly in the first 3 months. In multivariate analysis, functional impairment (hazard ratio, HR 2.40; 95% CI 1.33–4.32) was a significant risk factor for mortality independent of age (HR 1.17; 95% CI 0.69–2.00) and risk of sarcopenia (HR 1.40; 95% CI 0.63–3.12). Conclusion: Almost half of this sample of nursing home residents died in the 2-year period, and one fifth were attributed to COVID-19. Functional impairment was a risk factor for overall mortality and COVID-19 mortality, independent of age and risk of sarcopenia.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 459-466 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 16 Apr 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2024 |
Keywords
- mortality
- COVID 19
- nursing homes
- older adults
- functional decline
- predictive factors
- pandemic
- aged
- survival
- long-term care
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Gerontology
- Issues, ethics and legal aspects