COVID-19 Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 5 pp 6247—6257
Centenarians in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic
- 1 Internal Medicine, Geriatry and Therapeutic Unit, AP-HM, Marseille, France
- 2 Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, EFS, ADES, Marseille, France
- 3 Pharmacy Department, AP-HM, Marseille, France
- 4 Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
- 5 Public Health Department, AP-HM, Marseille, France
Received: December 2, 2020 Accepted: February 16, 2021 Published: March 2, 2021
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202743How to Cite
Copyright: © 2021 Couderc et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Centenarians are known to be successful agers compared to other older adults.Objective: The objective of the present study was to compare coronavirus disease (COVID-19) symptoms and outcomes in centenarians and other residents living in nursing homes.
Design-Setting-Subjects-Methods: A retrospective multicenter cohort study was conducted using data from 15 nursing homes in the Marseille area. Older residents with confirmed COVID-19 between March and June 2020 were enrolled. The clinical and biological characteristics, the treatment measures, and the outcomes in residents living in these nursing homes were collected from the medical records.
Results: A total of 321 residents were diagnosed with COVID-19 including 12 centenarians. The median age was 101 years in centenarians and 89 years in other residents. The most common symptoms were asthenia and fever. Three centenarians (25%) experienced a worsening of pre-existing depression (vs. 5.5% of younger residents; p = 0.032). Mortality was significantly higher in centenarians than in younger residents (50% vs. 21.3%, respectively; p = 0.031). A quarter of the younger residents and only one centenarian were hospitalized. However, 33.3% of the centenarians received treatment within the context of home hospitalization.
Conclusion: Worsening of pre-existing depression seems to be more frequent in centenarians with COVID-19 in nursing homes. This population had a higher mortality rate but a lower hospitalization rate than younger residents.