Cause of death in elderly inpatients:an analysis for our hospital during 2005 and 2014
Received:September 06, 2016  Revised:September 19, 2016
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DOI:10.11915/j.issn.1671-5403.2017.01.003
Key words:causes of death  aged  inpatients
Author NameAffiliationE-mail
BIAN Su-Yan Department of Geriatric Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China liuhbin301@sohu.comcause 
LIU Hong-Bin Department of Geriatric Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China liuhbin301@sohu.comcause 
LIU Hong-Wei Department of Geriatric Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China liuhbin301@sohu.comcause 
ZHU Qi-Wei Department of Geriatric Cardiology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China liuhbin301@sohu.comcause 
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Abstract:
      Objective To analyze the causes of death and their trends in the elderly patients hospitalized in our hospital in recent 10 years. Methods Death certificates of 1130 over-60-year-old inpatients who died in the geriatric wards (including the departments of geriatric cardiology, neurology, respiratory diseases, gastroenterology and oncology) of our hospital during the period were collected and classified by the International Classification of Diseases (the Tenth revision, ICD-10) in this study. They were 1 067 males and 63 females, and at an aged of (87.24±6.76) years. They were divided into 4 age groups, that is, 60-69 (n=32), 70-79 (n=86), 80-89 (n=578) and over 90 years old groups (n=434). The causes of death, ranking and trend were analyzed among the different age groups. Results The 3 leading causes of death were neoplasms (n=426,3.7%), respiratory system diseases (n=375,3.19%), and circulatory system diseases (n=191,6.90%) in order. The most common diseases of causing death were lower respiratory tract infection (32.12%), lung cancer (12.04%) and coronary heart diseases (9.03%). Neoplasms and respiratory system diseases were the leading causes of death for the patients younger than 90 and those over 90 years old, respectively. The constituent ratio of the over-90-year-old group was significantly increased during the past 5 years (Chi square=34.70, P<0.001). Conclusion Neoplasms, respiratory system and circulatory system diseases are the top 3 major causes of death in the elderly from our hospital. Particular emphasis should be placed on the comprehensive prevention and treatment for lower respiratory tract infection, lung cancer and coronary heart diseases.
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