Adverse clinical events and mortality during hospitalization and 3 months after discharge in cognitively impaired elderly patients

Abstract

Background.Controversial findings are reported on hospital outcome in cognitively impaired patients. The aim of this study was to explore mortality risk according to cognitive status during hospitalization and after 3 months in elderly patients.Methods.Sixty-six internal medicine and geriatric wards in Italy participated in the "Registry Politerapie SIMI (REPOSI)" during 2010. Of the 1,380 in-patients, aged 65 and older enrolled, 1,201 were included. Cognition was evaluated with the Short Blessed Test (SBT). Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association of questionable and impaired cognition (according to SBT cutoff points) with mortality during hospitalization and at follow-up. Morbidity, function, and adverse events during hospitalization were covariates.Results.Four hundred and twenty-one participants were classified as normal, 219 questionable, and 561 cognitively impaired. Forty-nine patients died during hospitalization and 70 during follow-up. Sixty-seven point three percent versus 32.7% (p