Outcomes of the Unvaccinated Geriatric Population with Coronavirus Disease

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an acute infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Older patients, especially those aged > 65 years, are very frail, primarily owing to comorbidities and physiological changes. This retrospective, observational, single-center cohort study included all unvaccinated patients admitted in the geriatric ward with a COVID-19 diagnosis confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction during the first year of the pandemic. The study population was divided into survivors and deceased patients. We retrieved records of 1,906 patients. The average age of the participants was 74.7 ± 9.0 years, and the overall mortality rate was 32.8%. The most common symptoms were respiratory distress, fever, malaise, and cough; each of these occurred in >50% of the study population. The most frequent comorbidity was chronic hypertension, affecting 70.2% of the population, followed by diabetes mellitus (36.8%). Moreover, the deceased patients had a worse functional status according to the frailty scale and Barthel index scores compared to those who survived. One-third of the older population with COVID-19 died before the availability of the vaccine. It was confirmed that older adults with COVID-19 are highly vulnerable to falling ill and succumbing to respiratory diseases, especially unvaccinated individuals.