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Fernández Alonso C, Fuentes Ferrer M, Llorens P, Burillo G, Alquézar-Arbé A, Jacob J, Montero-Pérez FJ, Aguiló S, Abad Cuñado V, Amer Al Arud L, Escudero Sánchez C, Poch Ferret EA, Hong Cho JU, Escolar Martínez-Berganza MT, Gayoso Martín S, Sánchez Sindín G, Prieto Zapico A, Petrus Rivas MC, Doi Grande AL, Llauger L, Rodríguez Valles C, Marquez Quero L, Juárez González R, Ruescas E, Fernández Salgado F, Ríos Gallardo R, de Juan Gómez MÁ, Masid Barco M, González Del Castillo J, Miró Ò. Impact of First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mortality at Emergency Department in Older Patients with COVID and Non-COVID Diagnoses. Gerontology 2023; 70:379-389. [PMID: 38160663 DOI: 10.1159/000535913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Mortality in emergency departments (EDs) is not well known. This study aimed to assess the impact of the first-wave pandemic on deaths accounted in the ED of older patients with COVID and non-COVID diseases. METHODS We used data from the Emergency Department and Elderly Needs (EDEN) cohort (pre-COVID period) and from the EDEN-COVID cohort (COVID period) that included all patients ≥65 years seen in 52 Spanish EDs from April 1 to 7, 2019, and March 30 to April 5, 2020, respectively. We recorded patient characteristics and final destination at ED. We compared older patients in the pre-COVID period, with older patients with non-COVID and with COVID-19. ED-mortality (before discharge or hospitalization) is the prior outcome and is expressed as an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with 95% interval confidence. RESULTS We included 23,338 older patients from the pre-COVID period (aged 78.3 [8.1] years), 6,715 patients with non-COVID conditions (aged 78.9 [8.2] years) and 3,055 with COVID (aged 78.3 [8.3] years) from the COVID period. Compared to the older patients, pre-COVID period, patients with non-COVID and with COVID-19 were more often male, referred by a doctor and by ambulance, with more comorbidity and disability, dementia, nursing home, and more risk according to qSOFA, respectively (p < 0.001). Compared to the pre-COVID period, patients with non-COVID and with COVID-19 were more often to be hospitalized from ED (24.8% vs. 44.3% vs. 79.1%) and were more often to die in ED (0.6% vs. 1.2% vs. 2.2%), respectively (p < 0.001). Compared to the pre-COVID period, aOR for age, sex, comorbidity and disability, ED mortality in elderly patients cared in ED during the COVID period was 2.31 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.76-3.06), and 3.75 (95% CI: 2.77-5.07) for patients with COVID. By adding the variable qSOFA to the model, such OR were 1.59 (95% CI: 1.11-2.30) and 2.16 (95% CI: 1.47-3.17), respectively. CONCLUSIONS During the early first pandemic wave of COVID-19, more complex and life-threatening older with COVID and non-COVID diseases were seen compared to the pre-COVID period. In addition, the need for hospitalization and the ED mortality doubled in non-COVID and tripled in COVID diagnosis. This increase in ED mortality is not only explained by the complexity or severity of the elderly patients but also because of the system's overload.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cesáreo Fernández Alonso
- Emergency Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, IDISSC, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
| | - Manuel Fuentes Ferrer
- Investigation Unit, Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Pere Llorens
- Emergency Department, Unidad de Estancia Corta y Hospitalización a Domicilio, Hospital Doctor Balmis de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL), Universidad Miguel Hernández, Alicante, Spain
| | - Guillermo Burillo
- Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Europea de Canarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Aitor Alquézar-Arbé
- Emergency Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Javier Jacob
- Emergency Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Sira Aguiló
- Emergency Department, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Vanesa Abad Cuñado
- Emergency Department, Hospital Universitario Severo Ochoa, Madrid, Spain
| | - Lilia Amer Al Arud
- Emergency Department, Hospital Universitario Virgen Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Lluís Llauger
- Emergency Department, Hospital Universitari de Vic, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | | | - Esther Ruescas
- Emergency Department, Hospital Universitario Vinalopó, Elche, Spain
| | | | | | | | - Marta Masid Barco
- Emergency Department, Hospital Univeristario Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
| | | | - Òscar Miró
- Emergency Department, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Artajona L, García-Martínez A, Aguiló S, Burillo-Putze G, Alquézar-Arbé A, Fernández C, Fernández-Simón A, Fernández Cardona M, Maza Vera MT, Iglesias Vela M, Trenc Español P, Salido Mota M, García García Á, Lucena Aguilera C, Llopis F, Herrero P, Doi Grande AL, Serrano Lázaro L, Chacon García A, Noceda Bermejo JJ, Ibisate Cubillas A, Hernández Martínez MJ, Alemany González FX, Sánchez Ramón S, Espinosa Fernández B, González Del Castillo J, Miró Ò. Influence of income on in-hospital mortality in older adults during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: results from the EDEN-33 study. Emergencias 2023; 35:423-431. [PMID: 38116966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To determine whether income was associated with unexpected in-hospital mortality in older patients treated in Spanish public health system hospital emergency departments. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty-one public health system hospital emergency departments in Spain voluntarily participated in the study. Together the hospitals covered 25% of the population aged 65 years or older included in all patient registers during a week in the pre-pandemic period (April 1-7, 2019) and a week during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 30 to April 5, 2020). We estimated a patient's gross income as the amount published for the postal code of the patient's address. We then calculated the standardized gross income (SGI) by dividing the patient's estimated income by the mean for the corresponding territory (Spanish autonomous community). The existence and strength of an association between the SGI and in-hospital mortality was evaluated by means of restricted cubic spline (RCS) curves adjusted for 10 patient characteristics at baseline. Odds ratios (ORs) for each income level were expressed in relation to a reference SGI of 1 (the mean income for the corresponding autonomous community). We compared the COVID-19 and pre-pandemic periods by means of first-order interactions. RESULTS Of the 35 280 patients attended in the 2 periods, gross income could be ascertained for 21 180 (60%), 15437 in the pre-pandemic period and 5746 during the COVID-19 period. SGIs were slightly higher for patients included before the pandemic (1.006 vs 0.994; P = .012). In-hospital mortality was 5.6% overall and higher during the pandemic (2.8% pre-pandemic vs 13.1% during COVID-19; P .001). The adjusted RCS curves showed that associations between income and mortality differed between the 2 periods (interaction P = .004). Whereas there were no significant income-influenced differences in mortality before the pandemic, mortality increased during the pandemic in the lowest-income population (SGI 0.5 OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.32-3.37) and in higher-income populations (SGI 1.5 OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.04-1.68, and SGI 2 OR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.14-3.23). We found no significant differences between patients with COVID-19 and those with other diagnoses (interaction P = .667). CONCLUSION The gross income of patients attended in Spanish public health system hospital emergency departments, estimated according to a patient's address and postal code, was associated with in-hospital mortality, which was higher for patients with the lowest and 2 higher income levels. The reasons for these associations might be different for each income level and should be investigated in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lourdes Artajona
- Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico, IDIBAPS, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, España
| | - Ana García-Martínez
- Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico, IDIBAPS, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, España
| | - Sira Aguiló
- Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico, IDIBAPS, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, España
| | | | - Aitor Alquézar-Arbé
- Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, España
| | - Cesáreo Fernández
- Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, IDISSC, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, España
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Manuel Salido Mota
- Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, España
| | | | | | - Ferran Llopis
- Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, Barcelona, España
| | - Pablo Herrero
- Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario Central Asturias, Oviedo, España
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Òscar Miró
- Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico, IDIBAPS, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, España
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