Clinical characteristics of elderly patients with Ebola virus disease in Freetown area, Sierra Leone
Abstract：Objective To investigate clinical characteristics of elderly patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Freetown area, Sierra Leone. Methods Twenty-one elderly EVD patients (more than 60 years old) (elderly group) treated by Chinese PLA medical aid team in Sierra Leone from October 2014 to March 2015 were analyzed retrospectively to study their clinical characteristics. Totally 235 non-elderly EVD patients (non-elderly group) treated in the same period were selected as controls. Results Ebola viral load was not significantly different between elderly group and non-elderly group. The main clinical manifestations of elderly EVD patients were fever, fatigue, anorexia, abdominal pain, headache, cough, joint pain, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, chest pain and conjunctivitis. The incidence rates of abdominal pain (85.7%) and mental confusion (23.8%) of elderly group were higher than those of non-elderly group (64.3%, P=0.047; 8.9%, P=0.047), while the incidence rate of joint pain of elderly group (61.9%) were lower than that of non-elderly group (83.0%) (P=0.018). The mortality rate of elderly group (33.3%) was not significantly different from that of non-elderly group (39.1%). The mean death time after hospitalization between elderly group (3.0±1.4 days) and non-elderly group (2.3±1.7 days) was not significantly different. Conclusions The clinical manifestations and prognosis of elderly EVD patients are similar as those of non-elderly EVD patients, but those of elderly EVD patients still have their own characteristics, which is of important significance in diagnosis and treatment of EVD.
Keywords：Ebolavirushemorrhagic feverEbolaagedclinical medicine
Publication Date：2016-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：4( 35-38 )