Abstract: (35435 Views)
Fever among elderly patients frequently marks the presence of serious illness. All such patients should be strongly considered for hospital admission, particularly when certain clinical features are present. In prospective case series study in Emam Khomeini hospital during 6-month period (March Through October 1991). All patients presenting to infectious wards who were 65 years or older who had fever (oral temperature 37.8°C or more) were studied. There were 101 patients (63 men and 43 women) with 65 to 92 years old (mean 73). The most important predisposing factor were, hypertension and heart disease in 20 patients, diabetes in 15 patients and pulmonary disease in 5 patients. Final diagnosis among 101 patients were: pneumonia 25 (24.8%), UTI 14 (13.9%) sepsis 12 (11.9%), cellulitis 16 (15.8%), IUO 4 (4.9%), malignancy 6 (5.9%) meningitis 8 (7.9%), gastroenteritis 4 (4.4%) brecullosis 7 (6.9%) and others 5 (5%). Outcome of them were complete recovery 41 (40.6%), relative recovery 42 (41.6%) and death 18 (17.8%)