Clinical characteristics and geriatric evaluation of elderly patients with pneumonia in a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

In order to determine the clinical and geriatric characteristics of elderly adults with pneumonia in a hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a cross-sectional study was carried out in 2010, included 66 patients hospitalized for pneumonia. The mean age of the study subjects was 82, 54.5% of whom were men. 47.0% of the hospitalizations were due to community-acquired pneumonia. As for the functional evaluation, 31.8% showed dependence in performing basic activities of daily living and 69.4% presented dependence in instrumental activities of daily living. The most frequent clinical characteristics observed were fever, cough, dyspnea and expectoration. The causative agent of pneumonia was identified in 34.8% of the cases, 18 of which were bacterial (27.2%) and 5 viral (7.5%). The crude mortality rate was 28.8%, but was close to 50% in those patients having confusional syndrome. We conclude that pneumonia in elderly patients has special characteristics, which can be observed with a proper diagnostic and geriatric evaluation.