Description

Current knowledge about clinical and biological characteristics of COVID 19 among older people is very limited. A better comprehension of the clinical picture of older patients affected by COVID-19, (e.g. frailty, multimorbidity and polypharmacy patterns and functional performance) may significantly contribute to deepen our understanding of the clinical epidemiology knowledge of COVID-19 among hospitalized older people.

Therefore, the ReportAge-COVID project aims to collect - using a minimum clinical and biological data set - a series of data and indicators on the conditions of elderly patients that are suspected of having a compatible clinical picture or were confirmed positive for COVID-19. Data will be collected at the patients' admission, during hospital stay, at discharge and 1, 3, 6, 12 months after discharge.

In particular, the following specific pieces of information will be gathered:

• routinely collected demographic, socioeconomic, clinical, biological and diagnostic data
• frailty condition (by using the clinical frailty scale)
• assessment of the functional capacities through ADL and IADL tests
• health conditions; nutritional status; medications; treatments and procedures
• biomarkers of aging including cytokines and anti-inflammatory molecules, previously identified in a focus group of experts

Results and findings will help support changes in clinical practice and decision making, with the aim of reducing adverse outcomes, the worsening of health conditions in the elderly population, the use of healthcare services and, as a consequence, lower healthcare expenditure.