Factors Associated With COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Deaths in French Nursing Homes.

The study was retrospective and relied on recorded data, so it cannot show that any factor or treatment caused hospitalization or death. It included only 15 nursing homes in one French city, and results may not apply to other countries or care settings. Laboratory data were missing for many residents, so conclusions about lab predictors are limited. The researchers selected only some variables for adjusted models, which can change the reported associations. Hospitalization risk was analyzed only from March 21, 2020 onward, because French authorities changed admission rules before that date. Some residents were classified as suspected cases without a positive RT-PCR test, and the proportion of symptomatic cases may have been overestimated. Staff and visitor infection status was not considered. Only hospitalized patients had chest CT scans, so imaging findings were not representative of all residents.

Do not read the lower death odds with polymedication or preventive anticoagulation as proof that these treatments prevent death. This was an observational study, and the associations may reflect who was treated, how care was recorded, or which variables were selected for analysis.