Characteristics of Associated Diseases in Older Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects the heart and blood vessels. Older people are considerably more likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke or to develop coronary heart disease (commonly called heart disease) and heart failure than younger people. Caring for older patients with cardiac conditions is markedly different from caring for younger patients with the same diagnosis. Objective: This study aimed to explore the characteristics and prevalence of CVD and its associated comorbidities in older patients. Methods: This study reviewed the medical files of all patients aged 65 years and older with CVD. Data such as sociodemographic characteristics and CVD findings were collected from 1614 patients with CVD. Design and Setting: Single-center retrospective cross-sectional study. Subjects: Almost two-thirds (1044, 64.7%) of the patients were male, and one-third (570, 35.3%) were female; all had various comorbidities. Results: Two main comorbidities associated with CVD were hypertension (HTN) (1092, 67.7%) and diabetes mellitus (DM) (927, 57.4%). The mean number of comorbidities associated with CVD was 2.61 (±1.1 SD), with a higher average in males than in females (2.74 [±1.07] vs. 2.54 [±1.06]). Conclusion: Up to six associated comorbidities were found in older patients with CVD, mostly with three comorbidities per patient. Males accounted for two-thirds of the overall study population. HTN and diabetes mellitus were the main CVD-associated comorbidities. Furthermore, almost 95.2 patients were reduced every 5 years of age progression.