Patterns of infections in older patients acutely admitted to medical wards: data from the REPOSI register

The results of the present study, that considered all types of infections occurring in older people, suggest that a low functional status may be associated with all types of infection, not only with those of the respiratory tract. There are limitations in this merely descriptive study, such as the fact that the register does not collect details on etiology, outcomes and diagnostic methods for infections (e.g. microbiological cultures, X-ray imaging, etc.). On the other hand REPOSI is based upon data from more than 100 internal medicine and geriatric wards throughout Italy, thus making this study representative of the hospitalized older population of this country. Moreover, data collection started in 2008, so that changes over time were accounted for. In conclusion infections are frequent events diagnosed in older hospitalized patients with a high number of comorbidi- ties and on polypharmacy, respiratory tract infections being the most frequent followed by urinary tract infections.