Multimorbidity gender patterns in hospitalized elderly patients

• Published in: PloS one 2020-01, Vol.15 (1), p.e0227252-e0227252
• Main Authors: Almagro, Pere, Ponce, Ana, Komal, Shakeel, de la Asunción Villaverde, Maria, Castrillo, Cristina, Grau, Gemma, Simon, Lluis, de la Sierra, Alex
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Autoimmune diseases; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomedical materials; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Chronic diseases; Chronic illnesses; Cognitive ability; Comorbidity; Coronary artery disease; Criteria; Delirium; Dementia; Dementia disorders; Elderly patients; Epidemiology; Female; Females; Follow-Up Studies; Gender; Gender aspects; Gender differences; Geriatrics; Gerontology; Health planning; Heart diseases; Heart failure; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Internal medicine; Ischemia; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Life expectancy; Lung diseases; Male; Males; Medical prognosis; Medical records; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Men; Mortality; Multimorbidity; Multiple Chronic Conditions - epidemiology; Multivariate analysis; Myocardial ischemia; Neoplasms; Older people; Patient Readmission - statistics & numerical data; Patients; People and Places; Population; Primary care; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory tract diseases; Sex differences; Sex Distribution; Sex Factors; Spain - epidemiology; Studies; Taiwan; Time Factors; Tumors; Variables; Women
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227252

Patients with multimorbidity and complex health care needs are usually vulnerable elders with several concomitant advanced chronic diseases. Our research aim was to evaluate differences in patterns of multimorbidity by gender in this population and their possible prognostic implications, measured as in-hospital mortality, 1-month readmissions, and 1-year mortality. We focused on a cohort of elderly patients with well-established multimorbidity criteria admitted to a specific unit for chronic complex-care patients. Multimorbidity criteria, the Charlson, PROFUND and Barthel indexes, and the Pfeiffer test were collected prospectively during their stays. A total of 843 patients (49.2% men) were included, with a median age of 84 [interquartile range (IQR) 79-89] years. The women were older, with greater functional dependence [Barthel index: 40 (IQR:10-65) vs. 60 (IQR: 25-90)], showed more cognitive deterioration [Pfeiffer test: 5 (IQR:1-9) vs. 1 (0-6)], and had worse scores on the PROFUND index [15 (IQR:9-18) vs. 11.5 (IQR: 6-15)], all p