Clinical characteristics of 1544 Brazilians aged 60 years and over with laboratory evidence for SARS-CoV-2

INTRODUCTION: Infection with the new coronavirus responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread worldwide. In Brazil, there are already more than 230 thousand dead, many of these older adults. OBJECTIVE: To present the clinical characteristics of older Brazilian adults infected by COVID-19, in the epidemiological weeks (EW) 34-52, and to verify factors responsible for the increased risk of death. METHODS: Retrospective and observational study conducted with secondary publicly available data, provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. 1,544 confirmed cases of registered COVID-19 infection were included between August 16 and December 26, 2020, aged 60 or older. Outcomes: Demographic data, comorbidity, symptoms for disease, clinical information: days of hospitalization, chest X-ray, type of RT-PCR. RESULTS: 48% of patients admitted to the ICU with evidence for SARS-CoV-2 died. Symptoms and comorbidities related to increased chance of death (OR) were immunodeficiency (188%), kidney disease (166%), neurological disease (103%), dyspnea (86%), pneumopathy (55%), O(2) saturation <95% (53%), respiratory discomfort (49%), age (36%), sore throat (31%), and sex (0.5%). There was a 5% increase in the chance of death for each year of life. CONCLUSION: Heart disease and Diabetes mellitus were the most frequent comorbidities, but did not indicate an increased risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Age, sex, sore throat, dyspnea, respiratory discomfort, O(2) saturation <95%, neurological disease, pneumopathy, immunodeficiency, and kidney disease were significantly associated with risk of death from COVID-19.