Morbidity and factors associated with frailty in post-COVID-19 elderly patients attended at a reference center.
Ely Carlos Pereira de Jesus, Victor Guilherme Pereira, Zilá Aparecida Soares Pereira and 5 others
PMID 39813428WHAT IT FOUND
Post-COVID-19 elderly survivors were often pre-frail or frail.
Among 204, 80 were pre-frail and 31 were frail. Impaired cognition, five or more comorbidities, and trouble with complex daily activities were associated with frailty.
Key findings
01Among 204 elderly patients, 93 were robust, 80 were pre-frail, and 31 were frail.
02In the final logistic model, frailty was associated with impaired MMSE (OR: 2.95; 95% CI: 1.12-7.80; p=0.029), five or more comorbidities (OR: 11.55; 95% CI: 2.22-60.01; p=0.004), and impaired IADL (OR: 41.97; 95% CI: 5.47-321.93; p<0.001).
03More than 70% of the group had limitations or impairments in at least one basic activity of daily living, and nearly half had impairments in instrumental activities of daily living.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This was a case series, so it cannot show that any factor caused frailty. The sample was a convenience sample of patients referred to one reference center, and no exclusion criteria or statistical calculation were used. Frailty was assessed after COVID-19, with no earlier frailty measurement, so the study cannot separate pre-existing frailty from post-COVID change. Only survivors who could attend the center were included, so results may not apply to elderly patients who died or could not attend. Data came from care records based on patient accounts, so memory and selection bias are possible.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that COVID-19 caused frailty or that treating these factors will reduce frailty. The study assessed survivors after infection, had no pre-infection frailty data, and was a case series, so it cannot establish causation.