Table 1 Clinical differences in patients ≥ 70 years admitted in the first and second waves of COVID-19.

From: Mortality reduction in older COVID-19-patients hospitalized in Spain during the second pandemic wave from the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry

Variable

First wave (n = 8587)

Second wave (n = 2386)

OR (95% CI OR)

p

Demographics and comorbidities

 Age (years), mean (SD)

80.8 (7.0)

82.0 (7.1)

 

 < 0.001

 Age (years), categorized

   

 < 0.001

  70–79 (%)

50.3

41.5

1 (ref.)

 

  80–89 (%)

38.8

43.8

1.37 (1.24–1.51)

 

  ≥ 90 (%)

10.9

14.8

1.64 (1.43–1.89)

 

 Female sex (%)

45.2

48.2

1.13 (1.03–1.24)

0.008

 Severe dependence (%)a

29.1

39.0

1.56 (1.42–1.71)

 < 0.001

 Age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index, mean (SD)

5.4 (2.1)

5.7 (2.1)

 

 < 0.001

 Age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index score, categorized

   

 < 0.001

  Moderate (3–4) (%)

39.9

34.2

1 (ref.)

 

  Severe (> 4) (%)

60.1

65.8

1.27 (1.16–1.40)

 

 Hypertension (%)

71.3

73.7

1.13 (1.02–1.25)

0.021

 Diabetes (%)

26.3

30.9

1.25 (1.13–1.38)

 < 0.001

 Cardiovascular disease (%)c

32.8

32.4

0.98 (0.89–1.08)

0.723

 Obesity (%)b

20.3

18.7

0.90 (0.80–1.02)

0.095

 Obstructive respiratory disease (%)d

23.0

22.7

0.99 (0.89–1.10)

0.808

 Dementia (%)

18.5

20.9

1.16 (1.04–1.30)

0.009

 Malignancy (%)e

13.8

14.1

1.03 (0.90–1.17)

0.692

 CKD (%)f

9.6

10.4

1.10 (0.94–1.27)

0.235

 Moderate-severe chronic liver disease (%)

1.1

1.1

1.03 (0.67–1.59)

0.887

Clinical presentation upon admission

 Days from symptom onset, mean (SD)

6.1 (4.7)

5.5 (4.6)

 

 < 0.001

 Dyspnea (%)

57.6

58.4

1.03 (0.94–1.13)

0.519

 Fatigue (%)

40.4

45.7

1.24 (1.13–1.36)

 < 0.001

 Anorexia (%)

21.1

23.9

1.18 (1.06–1.31)

0.003

 Myalgia (%)

21.8

18.2

0.80 (0.71–0.90)

 < 0.001

 Clouding of consciousness (%)

20.5

21.1

1.04 (0.93–1.16)

0.486

 Diarrhea (%)

19.4

18.3

0.93 (0.83–1.05)

0.241

 Abdominal pain (%)

6.3

5.3

0.84 (0.69–1.03)

0.089

 Anosmia (%)

4.1

5.1

1.26 (1.02–1.56)

0.035

 Sore throat (%)

7.1

5.6

0.78 (0.64–0.95)

0.010

 Systolic blood pressure, mmHg, mean (SD)

131.0 (23.1)

131.5 (23.3)

 

0.418

 Arterial stiffness (%)g

47.1

48.0

1.04 (0.94–1.13)

0.459

 Tachypnea (%)h

36.9

32.2

0.81 (0.74–0.89)

 < 0.001

 Fever (%)i

20.5

12.4

0.55 (0.48–0.63)

 < 0.001

 Tachycardia (%)j

16.9

13.7

0.78 (0.68–0.89)

 < 0.001

 Oxygen saturation (pulse oximetry, %), median [IQR]

93.0 [90.0–96.0]

94.0 [91.0–96.0]

 

 < 0.001

 Rales (%)

57.9

51.0

0.76 (0.69–0.83)

 < 0.001

 pO2/FiO2 ratio (%), mean (SD)

273.4 (94.3)

290.6 (87.9)

 

 < 0.001

Laboratory and radiological findings at admission

 Hemoglobin (g/dL), mean (SD)

13.2 (2.0)

12.8 (2.1)

 

 < 0.001

 Platelet count, ×109/L, median [IQR]

182.0 [141.0–241.0]

185.0 [141.0–247.0]

 

0.353

 White blood cell count, ×109/L, median [IQR]

6.6 [4.9–9.2]

6.6 [4.8–9.4]

 

0.942

 Eosinophil count, ×109/L, median [IQR]

0.0 [0.0–0.0]

0.0 [0.0–0.0]

 

0.009

 Lymphocyte count, ×109/L, median [IQR]

0.9 [0.6–1.2]

0.9 [0.6–1.2]

 

0.245

 Blood glucose (mg/dL), median [IQR]

119.0 [102.0–149.0]

122.0 [104.0–154.0]

 

 < 0.001

 Glucose (mg/dL)

   

 < 0.001

  < 140 (%)

69.4

65.3

1 (ref.)

 

  140–179 (%)

16.4

18.6

1.21 (1.07–1.36)

 

  ≥ 180 (%)

14.2

16.1

1.21 (1.06–1.38)

 

 C-Reactive protein (mg/L), median [IQR]

69.8 [23.2–141.0]

67.6 [27.0–129.8]

 

0.380

 Creatinine (mg/dL), median [IQR]

1.0 [0.8–1.4]

1.0 [0.8–1.5]

 

0.003

 Inflammatory patternk

   

 < 0.001

  Low (%)

1.9

1.9

1 (ref.)

 

  Moderate (%)

13.7

18.0

1.27 (0.88–1.81)

 

  Severe (%)

84.4

80.1

0.92 (0.65–1.30)

 

 Infiltrates (any) in chest X-ray (%)

84.5

77.7

0.64 (0.57–0.71)

 < 0.001

Treatments received

 Oxygen via high flow nasal cannula (%)

8.1

8.4

1.04 (0.88–1.22)

0.673

 Non-invasive mechanical ventilation (%)

5.8

6.4

1.11 (0.92–1.34)

0.269

 Invasive mechanical ventilation (%)

5.3

4.5

0.85 (0.69–1.06)

0.142

 Systemic corticosteroids (%)

39.5

79.3

5.88 (5.28–6.55)

 < 0.001

 Remdesivir

   

 < 0.001

  No (%)

99.6

87.4

1 (ref.)

 

  Yes, ≤ 10 days from symptoms onset (%)

0.2

11.5

79.22 (46.20–135.85)

 

  Yes, > 10 days from symptoms onset (%)

0.2

1.1

5.24 (2.96–9.29)

 

 Tocilizumab (%)

7.1

7.0

0.98 (0.82–1.17)

0.825

 Death (admission or re-admission) (%)

35.2

27.6

0.70 (0.64–0.78)

 < 0.001

  1. aSevere dependence: Barthel Index < 60; bObesity: BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2; cCardiovascular disease: Ischemic heart disease, heart failure, transient ischemic attack, stroke, or peripheral artery disease; dObstructive respiratory disease: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, chronic bronchitis, or obstructive sleep apnea; eMalignancy: solid tumor, leukemia, lymphoma; fCKD: chronic kidney disease (patients on dialysis or with serum creatinine > 3 mg/dL); gArterial stiffness: pulse pressure ≥ 60 mmHg; hTachypnea: > 20 breaths per minute; iFever: temperature > 37.8 °C; jTachycardia: heart rate > 100 bpm; kInflammatory pattern: see description in “Methods”. Categoric variables are expressed as percentages and compared using likelihood-ratio chi-square test for statistical significance. OR = odds ratio; 95% CI OR: 95% confidence interval for odds ratio. The odds ratios have been calculated with respect to the first category. Quantitative variables are expressed as mean (standard deviation) or median [interquartile range] and were compared for statistical significance using Student's t-test (with equal or unequal variances) or Mann–Whitney U test, as appropriate.
Back to article page