title: Factors affecting mortality in elderly patients hospitalized for nonmalignant reasons.
abstract: Elderly population is hospitalized more frequently than young people, and they suffer from more severe diseases that are difficult to diagnose and treat. The present study aimed to investigate the factors affecting mortality in elderly patients hospitalized for nonmalignant reasons. Demographic data, reason for hospitalization, comorbidities, duration of hospital stay, and results of routine blood testing at the time of first hospitalization were obtained from the hospital records of the patients, who were over 65 years of age and hospitalized primarily for nonmalignant reasons. The mean age of 1012 patients included in the study was 77.8 ± 7.6. The most common reason for hospitalization was diabetes mellitus (18.3%). Of the patients, 90.3% had at least a single comorbidity. Whilst 927 (91.6%) of the hospitalized patients were discharged, 85 (8.4%) died. Comparison of the characteristics of the discharged and dead groups revealed that the dead group was older and had higher rates of poor general status and comorbidity. Differences were observed between the discharged and dead groups in most of the laboratory parameters. Hypoalbuminemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypopotassemia, hypernatremia, hyperuricemia, and high TSH level were the predictors of mortality. In order to meet the health necessities of the elderly population, it is necessary to well define the patient profiles and to identify the risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize 53100, Turkey.
authors.forename: Teslime
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ayaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize 53100, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serap Baydur
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3944-136X
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize 53100, Turkey.
authors.forename: Osman Zikrullah
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4417-4451
authors.initials: OZ
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize 53100, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9016-1665
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bilir
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize 53100, Turkey.
authors.forename: Halil
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rakıcı