Prevalence and outcomes of accidental hypothermia among elderly patients in Japan: Data from the J‐Point registry

• Published in: Geriatrics & gerontology international 2018-10, Vol.18 (10), p.1427-1432
• Main Authors: Morita, Sachiko, Matsuyama, Tasuku, Ehara, Naoki, Miyamae, Nobuhiro, Okada, Yohei, Jo, Takaaki, Sumida, Yasuyuki, Okada, Nobunaga, Watanabe, Makoto, Nozawa, Masahiro, Tsuruoka, Ayumu, Fujimoto, Yoshihiro, Okumura, Yoshiki, Kitamura, Tetsuhisa, Hayashi, Yasuyuki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: accidental hypothermia; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Body Temperature Regulation - physiology; Cohort Studies; Confidence intervals; elderly; Female; Health risk assessment; Hospital Mortality - trends; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Hypothermia - epidemiology; Hypothermia - physiopathology; Hypothermia - therapy; Injury Severity Score; Japan - epidemiology; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Multivariate Analysis; Prevalence; Registries; Risk Assessment; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1444-1586; 1447-0594
• DOI: 10.1111/ggi.13502

Aim We aimed to evaluate the prevalence and outcomes of accidental hypothermia (AH) among elderly patients in Japan. Methods This was a multicenter chart review study of patients with AH (Japanese accidental hypothermia network registry; J‐Point registry) that included patients with a body temperature ≤35 °C and those aged ≥18 years who visited the emergency department of 12 institutions in Japan from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2016. The patients were classified into three groups: adult (aged 18–64 years), young‐old (aged 65–79 years) and old‐old (aged ≥80 years). The association between each age category and in‐hospital mortality from AH was examined through a multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results In total, 572 patients were registered in the J‐Point registry database, of which 537 were included. The proportion of individuals who developed AH in an indoor setting was higher in the old‐old group than in the adult group (86.9% [226/260] vs 61.1% [87/113]). The in‐hospital mortality rates of the adult, young‐old and old‐old groups were 15.0% (17/113), 21.3% (35/164) and 30.4% (79/260), respectively. In the multivariable analysis, the in‐hospital mortality rate was higher in the young‐old and old‐old groups than in the adult group (young‐old vs adult, adjusted odds ratio: 2.31 and 95% confidence interval 1.16–4.64; old‐old vs adult, adjusted odds ratio: 2.91 and 95% confidence interval 1.41–6.02). Conclusions Approximately 80% of patients with AH were aged ≥65 years. The in‐hospital mortality rate of patients aged ≥65 years was significantly higher than that of those aged