Epidemiological Characteristics of Older Adults With COVID-19 in North of Iran (Guilan Province)

Background Older adults are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, due to slower immune response. Objective This study aims to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of older adults with COVID-19 in Guilan province, north of Iran. Methods This multicenter study was designed based on the medical care monitoring system (MCMC) and conducted on 42,481 older people aged ≥60 hospitalized due to COVID-19 in Guilan province from February 2020 to February 2022. Results Patients included 22,026(52%) male and 20,455(48%) female. Among the hospitalized patients, 14% died. Of the total deaths, 3,084(49%) had positive PCR results for COVID-19. The most common comorbidities among the deceased patients were cardiovascular diseases (25.3%) and diabetes (24.3%). There were significant associations between gender and age, between age and mortality, and between clinical symptoms and mortality. Conclusion Special attention should be paid to older patients with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, especially males, during pandemics. It is important to train staff in private hospitals to be prepared for future pandemics and to use the referral system to reduce the burden of hospital admissions.