International Journal of Infectious Diseases (Nov 2020)

A snapshot of geriatric infections in Turkey: ratio of geriatric inpatients in hospitals and evaluation of their infectious diseases: A multicenter point prevalence study

  • Behice Kurtaran,
  • Ferit Kuscu,
  • Pinar Korkmaz,
  • Burcu Ozdemir,
  • Dilara Inan,
  • Nefise Oztoprak,
  • Duru Mistanoglu Ozatag,
  • Ozgur Daglı,
  • Serhat Birengel,
  • Kevser Ozdemir,
  • Hande Aslaner,
  • Aslıhan Ulu,
  • Emine Sehmen,
  • Serpil Erol,
  • Yeşim Uygun Kızmaz,
  • Gül Durmuş,
  • M Emirhan Işık,
  • Aslı Haykır Solay,
  • Suheyla Komur,
  • Emel Azak,
  • İlknur Yavuz,
  • Ergenekon Karagöz,
  • Merve Sefa Sayar,
  • Hasan Naz,
  • Zehra Demirbaş,
  • Nevin İnce,
  • Fatime Korkmaz,
  • Şule Özdemir Armağan,
  • Ümit Savaşçı,
  • Sabahat Aktaş,
  • Elif Tükenmez Tigen,
  • Buket Ertürk Şengel,
  • Nur Cancan Gürsul,
  • Ali Acar,
  • Sema Sarı,
  • Sema Turan,
  • Uğur Kostakoğlu,
  • Güliz Evik,
  • Kader Arslan,
  • Esra Kaya Kılıç,
  • Aynur Atilla,
  • Canan Ağalar,
  • Selma Ateş,
  • Kenan Uğurlu,
  • Mustafa Doğan,
  • Funda Bilman,
  • Nirgül Kılıçaslan,
  • Gülay Oktay,
  • Nilsun Altunal,
  • Yasemin Balkan,
  • Mevliye Yetik,
  • Serhat Uysal,
  • A İrfan Baran,
  • Nurettin Erben,
  • Hande Aydemir,
  • B Ergüt Sezer,
  • Abdulkadir Daldal,
  • Ayten Kadanalı,
  • Ayşe Sağmak Tartar,
  • Alper Şener,
  • Rezan Harman,
  • M Reşat Ceylan,
  • Hatice Ürgüdücü,
  • İlyas Dökmetaş,
  • Ahmet Hamidi,
  • A Altunçekiç Yıldırım,
  • Sedat Kaygusuz,
  • Esmeray Mutlu Yılmaz,
  • Şaban Esen,
  • Selçuk Nazik,
  • Filiz Koç,
  • Hale Turan Özden,
  • Aslıhan Demirel,
  • Yeşim Kürekçi,
  • Haluk Erdoğan,
  • Emine Fırat Göktaş,
  • Mehmet Uluğ,
  • Hülya Kuşoğlu,
  • Ramazan Gözüküçük,
  • Habibe Tülin Elmaslar Mert,
  • İlknur Erdem,
  • Hüseyin Şahintürk,
  • Işıl Deniz Aliravcı,
  • Rıdvan Kara Ali,
  • Funda Koçak,
  • İE Yıldız,
  • Emel Aslan,
  • Fatma Yılmaz Karadağ,
  • A Seza Inal,
  • Yesim Tasova

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 100
pp. 337 – 342

Abstract

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Introduction: The human population is aging at an astonishing rate. The aim of this study is to capture a situation snapshot revealing the proportion of individuals aged 65 years and over among inpatients in healthcare institutions in Turkey and the prevalence and type of infections in this patient group in order to draw a road map. Materials and Methods: Hospitalized patients over 65 years at any of the 62 hospitals in 29 cities across Turkey on February 9, 2017 were included in the study. Web-based SurveyMonkey was used for data recording and evaluation system. Results: Of 17,351 patients 5871 (33.8%) were ≥65 years old. The mean age was 75.1 ± 7.2 years; 3075 (52.4%) patients were male. Infection was reason for admission for 1556 (26.5%) patients. Pneumonia was the most common infection. The median length of hospital stay was 5 days (IQR: 2–11 days). The Antibiotic therapy was initiated for 2917 (49.7%) patients at the time of admission, and 23% of the antibiotics prescribed were inappropriate. Healthcare-associated infections developed in 1059 (18%) patients. Urinary catheters were placed in 2388 (40.7%) patients with 7.5% invalid indication. Conclusion: This study used real data to reveal the proportion of elderly patients in hospital admissions. The interventions done, infections developed during hospitalization, length of hospital stay, and excessive drug load emphasize the significant impact on health costs and illustrate the importance of preventive medicine in this group of patients.

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