The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the elderly. The report of the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network about the situation of COVID-19 in Spain, reported that since the beginning of the pandemic until May 21, 2020, 37.3% of the infected population was older than 70 years with a mortality rate of 87% of the total infected population at that time1; while from June to the present this percentage decreases to 11.4% with a mortality rate of 41.9%.2 This shows that this population is a very affected age group.

Data on the medium- and long-term consequences on the health status of elderly people who have been affected by COVID-193 are still limited.

The follow-up of these patients represents a new healthcare need that requires a multidisciplinary, protocolized and equitable approach throughout the National Health System.4

Therefore, this brief report aims to analyse factors associated with mortality, at 6 months in survivors older than 70 years after hospital admission for SARS-CoV-2.

Longitudinal observational study of patients>70 years discharged from the Hospital Central de la Cruz Roja, Madrid, from 20 March to 31 May 2020 with a diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, defined according to PCR confirmation criteria or as suspected cases according to compatible clinical, analytical and/or radiological data. OCTA-COVID Cohort.

During the period from March 20 to May 31, 2020, 300 patients over 70 years of age were admitted with an in-hospital mortality of 38%. 187 were discharged: 8 were readmitted 48h after discharge and 14 were excluded because of consent refusal, resulting in a total sample of 165 patients.

The baseline characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1.

At 6 months there was no loss to follow up, 21 patients (13%) died in hospital and 23.8%(39) required at least one readmission to hospital. Of those who died, 57%(12) occurred in the first month post-discharge, the main causes being respiratory 57.14%(12) and cardiac 14.29%(3) pathologies; the most frequent causes of readmission were respiratory 36.1%(14), cardiological 25%(10) and urinary 16.7%(6) pathologies. Of the survivors at 6 months, more than half of the sample had some of the following sequelae: dyspnoea 20%(33), functional impairment 41.7%(69), cognitive impairment 31.3%(52) or depressive symptoms 42.4%(70).

Baseline differences between survivors and non survivors are shown in Table 2. High comorbidity (CI>2, p=0.04) and worse functional status (Barthel Index previous and at discharge (p<0.05)) were significantly different between those surviving and not. In the multivariate analysis, functional impairment at discharge was associated with a higher risk of mortality. No significant associations were found with respect to those related to readmission at 6 months.

We describe the health status after hospitalisation for COVID-19 in a cohort of patients older than 70 years who survived admission.

The OCTA-COVID study5 describes in-hospital mortality in 37%; and the presence of delirium, dementia and high CURB-65 values as predictors of mortality. High comorbidity and frailty6 are topics relation with mortality in other studies.

Mortality at 6 months was 13%, lower than that described by Walle Hansen in a cohort of patients over 60 years of age (21%),7 in a younger population and a quarter developed severe covid, twice as many as in the present sample, which could explain the higher mortality of that study in comparison to this one. The readmission rate of 23.8% was very similar to that described in the 3-month follow-up (20%), with respiratory pathology being the main cause.

The incidence of post-hospitalisation functional impairment 6 months after discharge was 41.7% higher than that described at 3 months (27.2%), which could be related to dyspnoea as a persistent symptom limiting ambulation and the performance of basic activities of daily living. According to Lloyd,8 the presence or absence of functional recovery after 1 month was associated with long-term outcome

A functional dependence is described as factor associated with mortality and readmission,9 which highlights the need for early follow-up of this group affected by a new disease that is impacting on all areas of comprehensive geriatric assessment.

Despite the limitations of our study, such as the small sample size and being a single-center study, we would like to highlight the prevalence of functional impairment that is usually underrepresented in research studies.

Of the survivors, 4 out of 10 had functional impairment, 3 out of 10 cognitive impairment, and 4 out of 10 depressive symptoms at 6 months after surviving COIVD-19.

Previous and discharge functional status are independently associated with mortality.

Functional status was a factor associated with the risk of mortality at 6 months. All this highlights the role of functional status in the impact on health after the consequences of surviving COVID-19.

No funding to declare.

None.