Gkoufa A, Maneta E, Ntoumas GN, Georgakopoulou VE, Mantelou A, Kokkoris S, Routsi C. Elderly adults with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care unit: A narrative review. World J Crit Care Med 2021; 10(5): 278-289 [PMID: 34616662 DOI: 10.5492/wjccm.v10.i5.278]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Aikaterini Gkoufa, MD, First Department of Internal Medicine, Laiko General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Agiou Thoma 17, Athens 11527, Greece. katergouf@yahoo.gr
Research Domain of This Article
Critical Care Medicine
Article-Type of This Article
Systematic Reviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Crit Care Med. Sep 9, 2021; 10(5): 278-289 Published online Sep 9, 2021. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v10.i5.278
Elderly adults with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care unit: A narrative review
Aikaterini Gkoufa, Eleni Maneta, Georgios N Ntoumas, Vasiliki E Georgakopoulou, Athina Mantelou, Stelios Kokkoris, Christina Routsi
Aikaterini Gkoufa, Vasiliki E Georgakopoulou, First Department of Internal Medicine, Laiko General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 11527, Greece
Eleni Maneta, Georgios N Ntoumas, Athina Mantelou, Stelios Kokkoris, Christina Routsi, First Department of Intensive Care, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 10676, Greece
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this work with literature review, drafting, critical revision and editing, and approved the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Aikaterini Gkoufa, MD, First Department of Internal Medicine, Laiko General Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Agiou Thoma 17, Athens 11527, Greece. katergouf@yahoo.gr
Received: March 8, 2021 Peer-review started: March 8, 2021 First decision: June 5, 2021 Revised: June 19, 2021 Accepted: August 23, 2021 Article in press: August 23, 2021 Published online: September 9, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) affects people of all ages; however, in particular the elderly is at higher risk of severe illness.
Research motivation
Although many studies on elderly adults with COVID-19 admitted to hospital wards have been published, the information on characteristics and clinical outcome of critically ill elderly patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to COVID-19 is limited.
Research objectives
To provide information about clinical features and outcomes of elderly critically ill patients admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19, by carrying out a review of the existing literature.
Research methods
PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched up to May 20, 2021, while reference lists were explored for relevant articles, to identify studies either focusing on this patient population or studies in which age-stratified results were reported.
Research results
A total of 19 studies, involving 10646 patients older than 60, 8310 patients older than 65 and 2630 patients older than 70 years of age, were included. Only one study exclusively focusing on critically ill elderly patients admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19 was found. Although clinical manifestations were similar for all ICU patients, compared to younger ones, elderly patients suffered from more comorbidities and showed a varied, albeit high mortality, up to 91%.
Research conclusions
Studies exclusively designed for elderly ICU population with COVID-19 are currently limited. The current evidence suggests that elderly patients admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 are at increased risk of death.
Research perspectives
Future studies focused on elderly patients admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19 are worthwhile.
