Background Few studies have focused on exploring the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in older patients. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to have a better understanding of the clinical characteristics of older COVID-19 patients. Methods A systematic search of PubMed and Scopus was performed from December 2019 to May 3rd, 2020. Observational studies including older adults (age ≥ 60 years) with COVID-19 infection and reporting clinical characteristics or outcome were included. Primary outcome was assessing weighted pooled prevalence (WPP) of severity and outcomes. Secondary outcomes were clinical features including comorbidities and need of respiratory support. Result Forty-six studies with 13,624 older patients were included. Severe infection was seen in 51% (95% CI– 36-65%, I2–95%) patients while 22% (95% CI– 16-28%, I2–88%) were critically ill. Overall, 11% (95% CI– 5-21%, I2–98%) patients died. The common comorbidities were hypertension (48, 95% CI– 36-60% I2–92%), diabetes mellitus (22, 95% CI– 13-32%, I2–86%) and cardiovascular disease (19, 95% CI – 11-28%, I2–85%). Common symptoms were fever (83, 95% CI– 66-97%, I2–91%), cough (60, 95% CI– 50-70%, I2–71%) and dyspnoea (42, 95% CI– 19-67%, I2–94%). Overall, 84% (95% CI– 60-100%, I2–81%) required oxygen support and 21% (95% CI– 0-49%, I2–91%) required mechanical ventilation. Majority of studies had medium to high risk of bias and overall quality of evidence was low for all outcomes. Conclusion Approximately half of older patients with COVID-19 have severe infection, one in five are critically ill and one in ten die. More high-quality evidence is needed to study outcomes in this vulnerable patient population and factors affecting these outcomes.

Introduction: Prior estimates of dementia prevalence in India were based on samples from selected communities, inadequately representing the national and state populations.Methods: From the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) we recruited a sample of adults ages 60+ and administered a rich battery of neuropsychological tests and an informant interview in 2018 through 2020. We obtained a clinical consensus rating of dementia status for a subsample (N = 2528), fitted a logistic model for dementia status on this subsample, and then imputed dementia status for all other LASI respondents aged 60+ (N = 28,949). Results:The estimated dementia prevalence for adults ages 60+ in India is 7.4%, with significant age and education gradients, sex and urban/rural differences, and cross-state variation.Discussion: An estimated 8.8 million Indians older than 60 years have dementia. The burden of dementia cases is unevenly distributed across states and subpopulations and may therefore require different levels of local planning and support.

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Background: Despite the huge clinical impact of sarcopenia, there is very little to no data from Indian subcontinent regarding sarcopenia in older adults. We conducted this study to assess the frequency of sarcopenia in Indian older outpatients and its characteristics and associations with various geriatric syndromes and quality of life in Indian older adults. Methods: 100 participants above the age of 65 years were recruited from the outpatient department of Geriatric Medicine of a tertiary care hospital in India. Muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance was measured by DXA scan (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry), hand-held dynamometer and 4 m gait speed respectively. Sarcopenia was identified using an Asian working group for sarcopenia (AWGS) criteria. Many geriatric syndromes such as osteoporosis, dementia, depression and malnutrition were assessed using DXA scan (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry), HMSE (Hindi Mental State Questionnaire), GDS-5 (Geriatric Depression scale – 5 item questionnaire) and MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment) respectively. Quality of life was assessed using the OPQOL-brief questionnaire. Results: The preval nce of sarcopenia in our study population was 53% (49.3% in males, 61.3% in females). Hypothyroidism, neurological disease and osteoporosis were the only comorbidities found to be positively associated with sarcopenia. Among geriatric syndromes, nutrition and cognition were negatively associated with sarcopenia. Sarcopeniawas also negatively related to the quality of life. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that osteoporosis (OR: 5.43; 95% CI: 1.57-18.81; p-value: <0.01) was significantly associated with sarcopenia. Conclusion: Sarcopenia was common among Indian older outpatients with increased risk of geriatric syndromes and poor quality of life, therefore, a regular sarcopenia assessment may be considered in elderly patients.

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