title: Comorbidities and complications influence the diagnosis and management of geriatric supraglottitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to assess the differences in the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of supraglottitis between geriatric and nongeriatric adults over a 30-month period.
  
  
  METHODS
  All adult patients admitted to the emergency department with suspected supraglottitis and who underwent laryngoscopy for confirmation were included. We collected the clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of these patients and compared geriatric (≥60 years old) and nongeriatric (12-59 years old) groups in terms of these data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-one geriatric patients and 205 nongeriatric patients were reviewed during the study period. The accuracies of the clinical suspicions of supraglottitis were lower in the geriatric group (geriatric vs nongeriatric, 29.4% vs 47.3%, P = .008). The geriatric group constituted 19.8% of all supraglottitis patients. Comorbidities were discovered in 74.1% of the geriatric group and 25.4% of the nongeriatric group (P = .000). The complication rate in the geriatric patients was almost twice that of the nongeriatric patients (20.8% vs 10.8%). Additionally, the geriatric patients exhibited tendencies toward longer periods of intubation, hospitalization, and stay in the intensive care unit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical characteristics and management were similar between the geriatric and nongeriatric supraglottitis patients. Nevertheless, the comorbidities altered the clinical presentations of the geriatric patients and resulted in lower diagnostic accuracy. Additionally, the elevated complication rates of the geriatric patient might have negatively affected their outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Chen
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Biotechnology, Southern Tainan University of Technology, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Chin
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Si-Chon
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Vong
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Emergency Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: 890502@mail.chimei.org.tw.
authors.forename: Kuo-Tai
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007828:Laryngoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059525:Supraglottitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*