Abstract
Serum Ca, Ca corrected by albumin, Na, creatinine, uric acid, total protein, albumin, cholesterol, GOT and GPT as well as age, sex and duration of hospitalization were used as factors to analyze influence on the outcome of disease of the elderly admitted to Katsuragi Hospital. Over a period of 3 years, 158 patients were discharged with improvement, but 432 died of various diseases of old age such as cerebrovascular disease, cancer and infection. Among these factors, the most important factor threatening the the survival of these patients was hypocalcemia, followed by high serum creatinine, in addition to advanced age and prolonged hospitalization, while other factors had relatively minor influence. Serum calcium thus appears to be quite important as the index to predict the outcome of the diseases of the elderly, probably reflecting the level of nutritional intake of calcium and vitamin D.
