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. 2024 Mar:187:112382.
doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2024.112382. Epub 2024 Feb 17.

Sarcopenic patients "get even": The impact of COVID-19 vaccination on mortality

Chiara Ceolin  1 , Marina De Rui  2 , Cristina Simonato  2 , Margherita Vergadoro  3 , Sara Cazzavillan  2 , Vittorio Acunto  2 , Mario Virgilio Papa  2 , Giulia Salerno Trapella  2 , Bruno Micael Zanforlini  2 , Chiara Curreri  2 , Anna Bertocco  2 , Maria Devita  4 , Alessandra Coin  2 , Giuseppe Sergi  2
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Free article

Sarcopenic patients "get even": The impact of COVID-19 vaccination on mortality

Chiara Ceolin et al. Exp Gerontol. 2024 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), driven by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has disproportionately affected the elderly, with comorbidities like sarcopenia worsening prognosis. Considering the significant impact of RNA vaccines on survival rates in this population, our objective is to investigate the impact of vaccination on the survival of hospitalized elderly patients with COVID-19, considering the presence or absence of sarcopenia.

Methods: Prospective study conducted on 159 patients aged>65 years from September 2021 to March 2022. Data about clinical and body composition, and mortality at 12-months after discharge were recorded. Sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the 2019 European Consensus criteria.

Results: At the twelfth month post-discharge, vaccinated sarcopenic individuals exhibited a mortality risk similar to vaccinated non-sarcopenic individuals, and lower than unvaccinated non-sarcopenic patients. Cox regression analysis, adjusted for age, gender, comorbidity, functional and vaccinal status, showed that the presence of sarcopenia did not significantly impact the risk of death within 12-months post-discharge.

Discussion: Vaccination emerges as a protective measure for sarcopenic patients, countering the potential adverse effects of sarcopenia on COVID-19 outcomes, underscoring the importance of immunization in the frail elderly with a call for meticulous monitoring of its benefits.

Conclusions: Our study represents the first attempt to analyze the vaccine's effect on survival in sarcopenic hospitalized older adults with COVID-19. The administration of vaccination to sarcopenic patients proves pivotal, as its omission could lead to notably unfavorable outcomes within this specific population.

Keywords: Hospitalization; Mortality; Older adults; Sarcopenia; Vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. x All authors have participated in (a) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of the data; (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (c) approval of the final version. x This manuscript has not been submitted to, nor is under review at, another journal or other publishing venue. x The authors have no affiliation with any organization with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript. x The following authors have affiliations with organizations with direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript.

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