LAUSR

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is a disproportional number of COVID-19 deaths in hospitalized patients that increases based on age. Among COVID-19 related deaths in hospitalized patients, 8 of 10 patients are age 65 years and older. By looking at the latest data, the objective of this retrospective analysis is to evaluate the symptom profile in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and determine if certain symptoms are seen more in older patients. We performed a retrospective analysis using the COVID-Net database. This database contains information involving COVID-19 laboratory-confirmed hospitalization across 14 states. Medical history, signs, and symptoms at admission were collected by COVID-NET surveillance officers and reported during the period of March 1st to May 31st. For our analysis, we only included adults patients age 18 and above. Further descriptive statistics were stratified by age into two groups: age 18-64, and age ≥ 65. We identified 60,363 patients age 18 and above with COVID-19 confirmed hospitalizations. Cough, shortness of breath, and fevers/chills were the most common symptoms at respectively 67%, 66%, and 65%. Patients age ≥ 65, when compared to patients age 18-64, were less likely to have cough (56.7% vs 73.8%), shortness of breath (58.1% vs 72.1%), fever/chills (54.7% vs 71.%), dysgeusia (2.3% vs 7%), and anosmia (1.2% vs 6%). The only presentation that was more common in patients age 65+, than in patients age 18-64, was altered mental status (26.9% vs 5.2%). Overall inpatient mortality was higher in the age ≥ 65 group (8.9% vs 2%). Among the 2,922 COVID-19 decedents, 75.3% were age ≥65. Published in April 2020, preliminary data from COVID-Net on approximately 180 patient reported that only 8.2% of patients age ≥ 65 had altered mental status2. Since then, our analysis noted that altered mental status is more commonly seen in the age group ≥ 65 than previously reported. The percentage of decedents age ≥ 65 in this analysis is similar to the 74.8% (N= 10,647) reported in a large study that focused specifically on COVID-19-related deaths3. Our analysis highlights that altered mental status is a common neurologic manifestation in elderly patients hospitalized with COVID-19. All Authors: No reported disclosures