Elderly Hospitalized for COVID-19 and Fever: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Roig-Marín, Noel; Roig-Rico, Pablo

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 has been responsible for countless deaths during this time. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was to determine if the referred fever of elderly patients admitted for COVID-19 was related to their mortality. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2020 hospital admissions records of the Hospital de San Juan de Alicante, Spain. RESULTS: Those patients without fever had a greater age and comorbidity. There was not a significant difference related to fever in in-hospital mortality. DISCUSSION: Previous studies seem to indicate that fever in its early stages has a protective effect rather than a harmful one. Our results confirm this trend. No data have been found in the literature that express the differences of elderly patients admitted for COVID-19 who presented fever versus those who did not in the context of hospital admission. CONCLUSION: No significant differences were detected in terms of mortality with respect to the fever variable. However, patients without fever present significantly different laboratory values that could indicate a greater severity in their evolutionary course. For example, patients without fever have significantly higher D-dimer and LDH levels in addition to significantly lower arterial oxygen pressure and PaO2/FiO2 and SpO2/FiO2 ratios.