OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between comorbidities and risk of death and readmission after discharge of elderly after discharge from medical wards in a university hospital. METHODS: A cohort study of elderly patients discharged from University Hospital Lauro Wanderley. We used the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and the ICC associated with age (ICIC). The primary outcome was post-hospitalization mortality ; the secondary, readmissions. RESULTS: 104 patients were followed for 40.9±27.6 weeks; 31 (29.8%) died and 38 (36.5%) were readmitted. The survival curve was descending with cumulative proportion of 50%. Death was related to age (p = 0.04), number of hospital prescriptions (p=0.01), CHF (p=0.001) and ICIC (p=0.001). There was no association of ICC with rehospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of comorbidities in the elderly was related to increased risk of death after hospitalization. This emphasizes the need to dispose of comorbidity data to evaluate care for these patients.
Elderly; Comorbidity; Mortality
