More than one-third of older adults hospitalized with COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic had an atypical presentation, with a combination of typical and atypical symptoms, noted researchers.

Around one-fourth of the patients aged 65 years and above presented with functional deterioration. Nearly 11.3% of the patients presented with altered mental status and close to 9% reported gastrointestinal symptoms. Among the patients with an atypical presentation, 49% had atypical symptoms only. Around half of the patients presented with shortness of breath, 27% presented with cough and 38% had fever. Most of the participants were not severely ill, and only 30% presented with severe illness. The findings are published in the Journals of Gerontology: Series A… (Medpage Today)