Mortality hospital of nonagenarian patients in Internal Medicine

Objectives: To describe the predictors of hospital mortality in nonagenarian patients.

Patients and method: We retrospectively studied 421 patients aged 90 years or older hospitalised in a department of internal medicine. Using logistic regression, we analysed the association between demographic, clinical and functional parameters and hospital mortality.

Results: The mean age was 92.5 years (SD±2.5), and 265 (62.9%) of the patients were women. The main diagnoses were infectious diseases (257 patients, 61%) and heart failure (183, 43.5%), and the mean stay was 11.9 days (SD±8.6). During the hospitalisation, 96 patients died (22.8%). The predictors of mortality were age (P=.002), functional state (P=.006), comorbidity (P=.018) and diagnoses of pneumonia (P=.001), sepsis (P=.012) and respiratory failure (P<.001).

Conclusion: The hospital mortality of nonagenarian patients treated in internal medicine exceeds 20% and is associated with pneumonia, comorbidity burden and functional impairment.