title: Post-hospitalization mortality in the elderly.
abstract: The level of disability and polypathology in hospitalized elderly is usually high. Multidimensional and functional assessment allows to identify risk factors for clinical and functional failure of patients. Many studies point out that identifying predictors of high-risk patients is a necessary step in accurate targeting. We evaluated 395 subjects (175 women, 202 men, mean age 77.9 year) during their hospitalization in our Geriatric ward. Baseline data included: demographics variables, medical diagnosis, functional evaluation, and laboratory values. After a 6-month follow up 80 (20.2%) subjects died. In our study, male gender, dependence at the Dependence Medical Index (DMI), low serum albumin (< 2.8 g/dl), impaired score at the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale (IADL), score lower than 13.7 at the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II) and neoplasm were independent predictors of 6-month post-hospitalization mortality. The high mortality rate of our sample could be a marker of considerable frailty among elderly patients. Our study shows that a poor functional status is a more reliable prognostic factor than type and number of admitting diagnosis. Clinical evaluation, improved with information about functional status, is a feasible and practical way of detecting risk of short term post-hospitalization mortality of elderly subjects.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, University of Torino, Corso Bramante 88, 10126 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ponzetto
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zanocchi
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Maero
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giona
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Francisetti
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nicola
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fabris
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis