Factors associated with mortality and sequelae in patients living in long-term facilities hospitalized for COVID-19: a longitudinal 6-month follow-up study

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the main factors associated with prognosis (mortality, sequelae at 6 months and readmissions) of patients admitted for COVID-19 at the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio who live in a long-term care facility. Methods: Longitudinal observational study carried out on the cohort of 441 patients admitted for COVID-19 confirmed by PCR at the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio between 01/03/20 and 15/04/20. These patients were followed up, through their medical records, for 6 months after discharge. Sociodemographic, admission, clinical, therapeutic and sequelae variables were collected. Descriptive and bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression models were performed with R statistical software, through its R Commander tool. Results: The mean age of the cohort was 66.4 years (s=15.3), with 55.1% male. In-hospital mortality was 18.1%. Patients living in nursing homes had higher mean age and higher frequencies of comorbidities, mortality and hospital readmissions. During the 6 months after discharge, they had a high frequency of sequelae (59%), and a higher frequency of confusion, hematologic and nephrological problems, and superinfections. The main factors associated with mortality were advanced age, male sex, admission to the ICU and vulnerability at admission measured with clinical prognostic scales. Conclusions: Living in a long-term care facility was not an independent factor of mortality, but it did bring together a group of special vulnerability to COVID-19. The causes of mortality analysed in this study could be similar to the causes of mortality of elderly people in nursing homes during the first months of the pandemic. These data should serve to optimize strategies for in-hospital management and follow-up of the elderly during the months following hospital discharge, and to try to reduce the unrecorded mortality due to COVID-19 in this population.